Calix[4]arene based dipodal receptor nanohybrids for selective determination of chloride ions in aqueous media

Abstract

A chemical sensor based on p-tert butyl calix[4]arene has been synthesized and characterized using an assortment of spectroscopic techniques such as 1 H NMR, 13C NMR, and elemental analysis. For sensor application, organic nanoparticles (N1) of 1 have been primed by implementing re-precipitation technique, which were further employed for preparing organic-inorganic hybrid (H1) by decorating N1 with gold nanoparticles. Both N1 and H1 were characterized using UV–visible, fluorescence, and DLS studies. Photo-physical changes due to anion binding with H1 were scrutinized using UV–visible absorption spectrometer and found it to promptly and selectively recognize Cl ions in aqueous media. Thus, H1 can be effectively used for recognition of Cl ions in aqueous media over a wide pH range, in samples of real time importance with a detection limit of 2.84 10 9 M with a linear detection range up to 50 μM.