A novel coumarin-based switching-on fluorescent and colorimetric sensor for F−

A novel turn-on fluorescent and colorimetric sensor, N-(4′-nitrophenyl)-2-oxo-6-(phenylazo)-2H-chromene-3-carbohydrazide (1), for fluoride in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) was designed and synthesized. The binding ability evaluated by UV–vis and fluorescence titration experiments reveals that 1 can selectively recognize fluoride. In particular, addition of F− to the DMSO solution of 1 resulted in an enhancement in fluorescence intensity at 338 and 352 nm, which can provide a way of ‘naked-eye’ detection for fluorides. The spectral change of 1 is due to the anion-induced increase of the charge density in and the rigidity of the host molecule. Furthermore, the binding mode with F− was investigated by 1H NMR experiments.