title: Selective signaling of fluoride anion based on imidazole moieties.
abstract: The imidazole ring unit in both 2-(2'-hydroxyphenyl)-benzimidazole (ligand a) and a europium(III) complex exhibited specific luminescent responses in the presence of fluoride anions. UV-visible and (1) H-nuclear magnetic resonance spectra showed that the NH bond of the imidazole ring can form a hydrogen bond with added fluoride anions. The detection limits are 5 × 10(-6)  m for organic ligand and 1.0 × 10(-6)  m for the europium complex respectively. The response times are less than 3 s. The europium complex exhibits a linear response in a concentration range lower than 1.0 × 10(-6)  m (Y = -666.86X + 730.1).
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry and Environment, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yuhui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Qianming
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Chaoliang
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tan
mesh_terms: D000838:Anions / Q000737:chemistry*; D005459:Fluorides / Q000737:chemistry*; D006860:Hydrogen Bonding; D007093:Imidazoles / Q000737:chemistry*; D007700:Kinetics; D028581:Lanthanoid Series Elements / Q000737:chemistry; D049449:Luminescence; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D015394:Molecular Structure; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet
chemical_list: D000838:Anions; D007093:Imidazoles; D028581:Lanthanoid Series Elements; C029899:imidazole; D005459:Fluorides