A new tripodal rhodamine B derivative as a highly selective and sensitive fluorescence chemosensor for copper(II)

A new tripodal rhodamine B derivative 2 was designed and synthesized by tripodal trialdehyde and rhodamine B hydrazide for the first time. This derivative could be used as a fluorescent chemosensor for the selective and sensitive determination of copper(II) in Tris-HCl buffer and ethanol aqueous mixed media. Under the optimum conditions described herein, fluorescence enhancement at 557/577 nm was linearly related to the concentration of copper(II) in the range of 0.10 to 10.00×10⁻⁵ mol·L⁻¹, with a correlation coefficient of R ²=0.9964 (n=15) and a detection limit of 1.129×10⁻⁷ mol·L⁻¹ (the relative standard deviation for five repeated measurements at 4.00×10⁻⁵ mol·L⁻¹ Cu(II) was 2.2%). The absorbance measurements at 557 nm were linearly related to the concentration of Cu(II) in the range of 0.50 to 25.00×10⁻⁵ mol·L⁻¹, with a correlation coefficient of R ²=0.9948 (n=13) and a detection limit of 3.338×10⁻⁷mol·L⁻¹. Supported by the Foundation of the Governor of Guizhou Province, China (Grant No. 200617) and the Talented Person Foundation of Guizhou University (Grant No. 2007039)