Effect of methylation to an ethylenediamine receptor-based fluorescence signaling system: Solvent dependence, metal ion selectivity and photophysical studies

A fluorescence signaling system (L1) has been synthesized in the format, 'fluorophore-spacer-receptor' with an 'amino-alkyl-amino' group as the receptor where an anthracene and a 2,4-dinitrobenzene moieties are attached at two ends. As evident from the photophysical behavior of this system, attachment of methyl groups to the donor N atoms not only increases the charge-transfer character of the signaling system, but imparts structural rigidity and perturbs the binding ability of the receptor core, that results in selective fluorescence enhancement in presence of Zn(II). Solid-state structure of L1 is determined by X-ray crystallography.