Recent developments in fluorescent and colorimetric chemosensors based on schiff bases for metallic cations detection: A review
Graphical Abstract
Introduction
Metallic cations are extensively used in different fields and some of these regulate thousands of biological processes that support life. However, the excess of these ions can cause one of the most serious environmental problems because they are non-biodegradable and can accumulate in food chain, which poses a severe threat to the environment and human health even at low concentrations [1], [2]. These ions can cause various health problems including allergy, lung injury, anemia, kidney failure, neurotoxicity, genotoxicity, oxidative toxicity, steroidogenic toxicity, sperm toxicity, apoptotic toxicity and axillary toxicity [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], [9], [10], [11]. Therefore, it is highly desired to develop an efficient method for the determination of these ions in different samples. Hence, various methods such as liquid chromatography[12], electrochemical [13], voltammetric [14], reversed phase-high-performance liquid chromatography [15] and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry [16] have been developed for the detection of metallic cations. Although these techniques are highly efficient but still suffer from some limitations such as, being expensive and complicated in operation and require excessive sample pretreatment. Alternatively, fluorescent and colorimetric chemosensors have been proposed for the detection of metallic cations to overcome the afore-mentioned limitations of these methods. Spectrofluorometric and colorimetric chemosensors showed high sensitivity and selectivity toward various species (Cations, anions and netural species) [17], [18], [19], [20], [21], [22], [23], [24], [25], [26]. Particularly, chemosensors based on Schiff bases have demonstrated excellent performance for the determination of various metallic cations owing to their facile and inexpensive synthesis, and their ability to coordinate with almost all metal ions and stabilize them in a variety of oxidation states [27]. Besides, these Schiff bases have exhibited a broad range of biological applications including anticancer, antibacterial, analgesic, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, antioxidant, antimalarial, antiglycation, and anti-ulcerogenic properties [28]. Many of these compounds have excellent catalytic efficiency in different reactions [20], [21]. In this review article, different Schiff bases have been reviewed as a fluorescent turn-on/turn-off and colorimetric chemosensor for the detection of various metal ions in different matrices. Furthermore, the synthetic routes and sensing mechanisms of different Schiff base chemosensors have been discussed. Finally, the performances of Schiff base chemosensors have been compared with some other reported chemosensors. We hope that this review article will help researchers in designing simple, highly effective and sensitive chemosensors for the detection of various metal ions (e.g., monovalent, divalent and trivalent cations) in different biological, agricultural and environmental media.
Section snippets
Synthesis of Schiff bases
Several synthetic routes have been applied for the syntheses of Schiff bases. Here only a few simple synthetic routes are outlined for the guidance of learners and those who do not deal with organic synthetic chemistry. Hugo Schiff (1864), was the first who synthesize Schiff bases by the reaction of primary amines with aldehyde or ketone under azeotropic distillation (Compound a, Scheme 1) [30]. Different catalysts including acetic acid, p-toluene sulphonic acids, montmorillonite, acid resin,
Schiff bases as chemosensors for detection of toxic metal ions
Several chemosensors based on Schiff bases have been synthesized and used for fluorescent turn-on/turn-off and colorimetric detection of various metal cations (Table 1). There are some concepts to be kept in mind before using these compounds as chemosensors. The incorporation of bulky chains is preferred to obtain a heterogeneous system in an aqueous medium. This enables the establishment of a system for easy and economic separation. Furthermore, in the field of chemosensing, spectroscopic
Sensing mechanism, selectivity and sensitivity of Schiff base chemosensor
Several factors regulate the selectivity and high sensitivity of Schiff base chemosensors, such as the suitable radius of metal ions, the charge on the metal ion, electroni configuration of both the ligand and the metal ion and the structural rigidity and the binding ability of the Schiff base chemosensor with the metal ion [27], [38]. Consequently, different mechanisms have been proposed for the interaction between metal ions and various chemosensors, including chelation-enhanced fluorescence
Detection of monovalent cations
Monovalent cations are involved in different biological processes in human body [39]. However, the excess amount of these metal ions can cause various harmful effects such as neurotoxicity, skin and eye irritation, allergic contact dermatitis, genotoxicity, renal, hepatic, and hematological effects [40], [41]. Mostly, Schiff base chemosensors have been widely applied for the detection of monovalent Ag. Hence, we discussed some selected examples of Schiff base chemosensors for Ag+ ions.
Silver
Detection of divalent cations
Among inorganic materials, divalent cations regulate thousands of biological processes that support life [45], [46]. However, oversupply of these ions can cause various health problems including allergy, lung injury, anemia, kidney failure, prenatal brain damage, Wilson’s, prion, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and epilepsy [47], [48], [49].
Detection of trivalent cations
Trivalent cations play an important role in different biological processes as they have a remarkable ecological, toxicological and physiological impact on the biological and environmental systems. Hence, the sensitive and selective detection of these ions in biological, environmental and agriculture matrices has gained considerable attention.
Performance evaluation
In this review article, we discussed spectrofluorometric and spectrophotometric methods for the detection and determination of different cations in different environmental, biological and agriculture samples. Many of these chemosensors have shown high sensitivity and selectivity for particular analytes with a very low detection limit. The performance of different chemosensors based on Schiff bases for the detection of various cations is discussed. The detection limit values were compared and
Comparison of the performance of Schiff base chemosensors with other chemosensors
Different types of spectrofluorometric and colorimetric chemosensors have been reported for the determination of various metal ions [94], [95], [96], [97], [98], [99], [100], [101], [102], [103]. In this subsection the performances of Schiff base chemosensors were compared with some other reported organic chemosensors including cellulose-based colorimetric chemosensor 49 containing thiourea moiety [104], pyrene appended bis-triazolylated 1,4-dihydropyridine 50 [105], indole-based fluorescent
Conclusion and future perspective
Schiff bases are biologically active organic compounds and have a wide range of applications including anticancer, antibacterial, antifungal, antioxidant, antimalarial, antiglycation, anti-inflammatory, anthelminthic, anti-ulcerogenic, antiviral and analgesic properties. These compounds can be easily prepared in laboratories through different reaction protocols. Schiff bases have been applied for the detection of various metal ions including Ag+, Cu2+, Co2+, Mn2+, Cd2+, Hg2+, Ni2+, Zn2+, Pd2+,
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
This work has been financially supported by the Wenzhou University China scientific research start-up fund (QD2021155).
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