An easy-to-prepare chemosensor, (E)-1-(phthalazine-4-yl)-2-(1-(pyridine-2-yl)ethylidene) hydrazine (3), structurally characterized by single X-ray crystallography, is developed for the selective and sensitive detection of Co(2+) in aqueous media. Chemosensor 3 shows both absorption and fluorescence responses to Co(2+) by forming a 1:1 complex (among the surveyed metal ions) with a detection limit down to 50 nM. It can also be used as a 'naked-eye' sensor due to the outstanding visible and emission color changes from yellow to red and blue to orange, respectively.
Keywords: analytical chemistry; aqueous media; chemosensors; cobalt; nanomolar detection.
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