A dual-functional chemosensor based on phenazine derivative for detecting toxic ions in water samples and cosmetic

ABSTRACT

Selective monitoring and targeted identification of various noxious ions have received significant attention in biology, industry and environments. Herein, we developed an easily available colorimetric and fluorescence sensor (PZ) based on phenazine derivative, successfully achieving the discriminative detection of Hg²⁺ and CN⁻ ions. Compared with other interfering ions, PZ had high sensitivity and specificity towards Hg²⁺ and CN⁻. The lowest limits of Hg2+ and CN- by PZ were 1.52 × 10⁻⁸ M and 7.05 × 10⁻⁷ M, respectively. Significantly, this chemosensor PZ allowed visual monitoring of toxic Hg²⁺ and CN⁻ ions in a few seconds, presenting a great potential in the practical application (skin-whitening cosmetic, water samples, and nutlet). Such an effective strategy is expected to offer some guidance for distinguishing the identification of toxic ions in optical sensing.

Graphical abstract

KEYWORDS:

• Phenazine derivative
• colorimetric and fluorescence
• mercury ion
• cyanide ion
• practical application

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 22001214; 22165027; 22061039) and the Key R & D program of Gansu Province (No. 21YF5GA066).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/10610278.2023.2213795

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (22165027; 22061039; 22001214) and the Key R & D program of Gansu Province (No. 21YF5GA066).]