Aerobic synthetic approach and characterisation of some acetylide–thiourea derivatives for the detection of carbon monoxide (CO) gas

•Novel derivatives of acetylide–thiourea have been synthesised and characterised.•They are used as a single molecular sensor towards three concentration of CO gas.•Thin film formations were deposited via dip-coating technique.•These derivatives exhibit ideal interaction towards CO gas.•Synthesised molecules exhibit van der Waals (non-bonding) interaction with CO.

Novel acetylide–thiourea systems (PAT, EBT, and ETT), that possess both withdrawing and donating system properties were successfully synthesised with good yield (64–72%) and were characterised via several spectroscopic and analytical techniques. In turn, all synthesised derivatives were deposited onto glass substrates by dip-coating, and then their responses towards CO exposure were evaluated via UV–visible spectroscopy to identify their thin-film sensitivity towards CO. Theoretical studies using Gaussian 09 analysis were used to determine the relationship between the experimental and theoretical analyses of the molecules. The data revealed that acetylide–thiourea derivatives exhibit great potential for the detection of CO.

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