A novel colorimetric and fluorescent chemosensor for cyanide ion in aqueous media based on a rhodamine derivative in the presence of Fe3+ ion

A rhodamine-based fluorescent and colorimetric chemosensor (RTSB) for Fe3+ ion was designed and synthesized, which displayed highly selective and sensitive Fe3+-amplified fluorescence emission and absorbance above 500 nm in aqueous solution with the color change from colorless to pink. Moreover, it also showed highly selective and sensitive recognition toward cyanide ion upon addition of Fe3+ with the color change back to colorless in the same solution. The detection limit of the system for CN− was around 7.2 × 10−8 M (S/N = 3). The chemosensor may be found its potential applications in environmental and biological systems.