Pyridine Acyl Thiourea as Ionophore for the Detection of Copper(II) in Aqueous Phase

Copper(II) ion chemical sensor based on acyl pyridine thiourea derivative featuring N-pyridyl-N'-(butyryl)thiourea (PT1) was successfully synthesised, characterised, and investigated as ionophore in the form of thin-film PVC membrane. The ionophore exhibited ideal responses towards copper(II) ion over the concentration range of 2 x 10-4 to 10 x 10-4 M with a limit of detection 1.06 x 10-5 in thin film studies. The proposed sensor (PT1) revealed fairly applicable in term of reproducibility and regeneration of the ionophore with moderate relative standard deviation (RSD) value of 81.95%. Besides that, theoretical calculations was performed using Gaussian 09 program to reveal oxygen atom from carbonyl moiety (C=O) is the most favourable reactive site and mainly responsible for ionophore - Cu2+ interaction. The obtained data revealed that pyridine-thiourea derivative of PT1 offered great potential as ionophore for the detection of Cu2+ ion in aqueous phase.