A coumarin based chemodosimetric probe for ratiometric detection of hydrazine

A coumarin-based sensor containing trifluoroacetyl acetonate moiety was designed, synthesized, and applied for hydrazine detection. Hydrazinolysis of the chemodosimeter results in a prominent chromogenic and fluorescence ratiometric response toward hydrazine within 3 min. The probe is highly selective toward hydrazine over other important amines and other biologically and environmentally abundant analytes. The limit of detection (LOD) of the probe is in 10−6 M range. The sensing mechanism was supported by NMR and HRMS analysis. The experimentally observed change in structure and electronic properties of the sensor after reaction with hydrazine was modeled by Density Functional Theory (DFT) and Time Dependent Density Functional Theory (TDDFT) computational calculations, respectively.