A Novel Colorimetric and Fluorometric Dual-Channel Chemosensor based on A Conjugated Perylene-Benzothiazole System for Highly Selective Detection of Cyanide in Aqueous Media

A novel cyanine compound based on the conjugated perylene-benzothiazole system (PBI) as a colorimetric and fluorometric dual-channel sensor for cyanide (CN-) detection was synthesized and characterized via UV-vis and fluorescence spectroscopy. PBI exhibited a high sensitivity and rapid optical response for CN- due to the intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) mechanism. The detection limit of PBI for CN- was 1.15x10(-7) M in the mixture of DMSO/H2O (1 : 1, v/v). Moreover, probe PBI demonstrated high selectivity and sensitivity for CN- over other common anions, including Cl-, Br-, F-, I-, AcO-, ClO4-, HSO4-, SO42-, NO2-, NO3- and SCN-. This work provided a simple and effective approach to trace the toxic CN- ion with rapid response, high selectivity, and sensitivity that is possibly applied in environmental control and agricultural management.