Facile synthesis and characterization of rhodamine-based colorimetric and “off–on” fluorescent chemosensor for Fe3+

A fluorescent chemosensor for Fe3+, rhodamine-aminobenzothiazole conjugate has been synthesized and characterized by 1H NMR, 13C NMR and X-ray crystallography. The sensor demonstrates strong Fe3+- selective orange fluorescence and a pink color switch. Furthermore, the recognizing behavior has been investigated both experimentally and computationally.