A novel cascade strategy with supramolecular and chemodosimetric methods for designing a fluorescent ratiometric detector hypersensitive to trace water.

An intensely fluorescent zinc-salicylideneimine complex (1-Zn(II)) was developed as a fluorescent ratiometric detector for the quantitative determination of trace water contents both in THF and methanol. It works based on a water-triggered cascade process: the dissociation reaction of the supramolecular ensemble and the subsequent hydrolysis reaction of its ligand.