Design of bi-pyrene functionalized oxacalixarene probe for ratiometric detection of Fe3+ and PO43- ions

A highly efficient bifunctional probe based on pyrene-linked oxacalixarene architecture (DPyOC) has been designed and synthesized. The ion recognition ability of DPyOC was explored with the help of photochemical measurements. The supramolecular probe DPyOC was found to be very selective toward Fe3+ ions in aqueous media. The detection limit was found to be 49.2 nM. The DPyOC-Fe3+ complex was further utilized for phosphate sensing applications. This denotes the dual function of DPyOC for rapid detection of Fe3+ and phosphate anions. Moreover, the transfer of energy involved between HOMO and LUMO during binding of Fe3+ ions as well as the sensing phenomena was investigated by DFT studies.