A highly selective colorimetric and fluorescent turn-on chemosensor for Zn2+and its logic gate behavior

Abstract A novel quinoline-based fluorescent chemosensor L was synthesized and characterized by 1 H NMR, 13 C NMR, HRMS and X-ray Crystallography. L showed a significant fluorescent enhancement (120-fold) and color change upon the addition of Zn 2+ attributed to the joint contribution of the PET and CHEF processes. The binding ratio of the L –Zn 2+ complex was 1:1 confirmed by the 1 HNMR, mass-spectral analysis and Job plot, and the detection limit for Zn 2+ was as low as 5.2 × 10 −7  M. L was successfully applied to the determination of Zn 2+ in real water samples. Moreover, the fluorescent signals of L were utilized to built an INHIBIT logic gate.