Benzimidazole and thiourea conjugated fluorescent hybrid receptor for selective recognition of

We synthesized a novel hybrid receptor bearing an array of hydrogen bond donors from benzimidazole and thiourea moieties. The recognition behavior of the receptor toward various anions has been evaluated in a DMSO/H2O (8:2, v/v) solvent system. The receptor showed changes in fluorescent intensity only with PO 4 3 - , and it showed no such significant response to any of the other anions such as F−, Cl−, Br−, I−, CN−, ClO 4 - , H 2 PO 4 - , HPO 4 2 - , AcO−, NO 2 - , CO 3 2 - , HCO 3 - , SO 4 2 - , and HSO 4 - . The receptor is highly selective in recognizing PO 4 3 - even in the presence of other anions in aqueous DMSO.