A novel coumarin-tagged ditopic scaffold as a selectively sensitive fluorogenic receptor of zinc (II) ion

In the recent decade, coumarin and its congeners have been extensively evaluated for their biological potency in drug-like molecules. However, there are relatively fewer reports highlighting their utility as a pincer-type ligand against biochemical analytes. This article, hereby, reports the chemical synthesis and physico-chemical delineation of a potentially novel coumarin-derived schiff base (M) as a potential sensor of the biologically relevant analyte, Zn2+, in semi-aqueous medium. As per our findings, Zn2+ independently elicits a multifold rise in fluorescence of M against the back-drop of an aqueous pool of multiple competitive cations, including the chemically similar Cd2+. The stoichiometry of M: Zn2+ coordination was evaluated to be 1:1 (B-H studies), with a significantly low detection limit of 0.272 nM (Stern-Volmer plot). In addition, recovery studies indicate a significant sensing efficacy of M towards the target analyte, Zn2+, in spiked natural water samples.