Abstract:
In due consideration of the growing importance of chemical sensors for the detection and quantification
of toxic heavy metal ions to counter water pollution, a novel class of tellurium-based organic receptors
has been investigated as a potentially sensitive and selective silver-ion probe in the present work. The
new tellurium-incorporated Schiff base ligand (R1) was chemically synthesized and characterized using
various spectroscopic techniques. Upon an exposure of organic nanoparticles (N1) of the title receptor
ligand (R1) to a pool of select heavy metal ions, the former displayed high sensitivity and selectivity
towards silver ions, in aqueous medium, with a detection limit of 2.34 nM. Interestingly, the presence
of metal ions bearing close physico-chemical resemblance to silver exerted negligible interference in
the ultra-sensitive detection of silver ions by the title probe N1. Furthermore, the precision and accuracy
of the potential silver-ion sensor (N1) in aqueous medium was established across a wide pH range as well
as under saline conditions. The analytical utility of this potential silver-ion probe R1 was further investigated
for real sample analysis of objects of environmental applicability. The results of the same were
authenticated by using atomic absorption spectroscopy. In summary, an investigation into the utility
of a new class of tellurium-based organic receptors as potential metal-ion sensors opens a new avenue
into the rather poorly-comprehended environmental relevance of organotellurium chemistry.
