Superaromatic terpyridines based on corannulene responsive to metal ions.
Two superaromatic terpyridine ligands (1 and 2) incorporating a corannulene unit at the 4'-position are reported. The optical and metal sensing properties of both ligands were investigated by the naked eye, and UV-vis and fluorescence spectroscopy in this work. In 1, the corannulene motif is directly connected to the 4'-phenylterpyridine domain, while in 2, the corannulene motif and the 4'-phenylterpyridine domain are separated by an acetylene linker. Both 1 and 2 can work as chemosensors for metal ions and display different optical responses to various metal ions. It is shown that both ligands exhibit a colorimetric sensing ability for Fe(2+) through an obvious color change from colorless to magenta, and this color change can be observed easily by the naked eye. The addition of Fe(2+) also leads to significant changes in the absorption spectra of the ligands. A characteristic red shift in the emission spectra is observed in the presence of Zn(2+), which facilitates the discrimination of Zn(2+) from other metal ions. In addition, density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent-density functional theory (TD-DFT) calculations were performed and shown to be consistent with the observed experimental results.
College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China. gaoguowei@scu.edu.cn.
Difeng
D
Wu
Tao
T
Shao
Jian
J
Men
Xiaochuan
X
Chen
Guowei
G
Gao
D008670:Metals / Q000737:chemistry*; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons / Q000737:chemistry*; D011725:Pyridines / Q000737:chemistry*; D013050:Spectrometry, Fluorescence; D013056:Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet
D008670:Metals; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons; D011725:Pyridines; C434863:corannulene