A Highly Sensitive and Selective Fluorescent Probe for the Detection of Cerium(III) using Tridentate Based-Oxazolidine: Experimental and DFT Investigations

A new fluorescent sensor based on oxazolidine derivative, (2-(pyridin-2-yl)oxazolidine-4,4-diyl)dimethanol; TN), was designed and synthesized successfully in high yield (82%) under Schiff base reaction. The structural elucidation of the sensor has been confirmed by spectroscopic techniques (IR, NMR, and HRMS-ESI-TOF). The designed TN sensor exhibited high sensitivity and selectivity towards an aqueous solution of cerium(III) over various metal ions under biologically relevant conditions (100.0 mM HEPES buffer pH 7.4). The limit of detection (LOD) was reported as 54.0 nM. The geometry of tridentate based-oxazolidine (TN) and its coordination of cerium(III) (TN-Ce3+) was proven by using the density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The HOMO-LUMO energy gap was decreased when TN-Ce3+ is formed. The results indicated that TN can be used as a fluorescent probe for high sensitivity and selectivity detection of cerium(III) ions.