Quinoline based thiosemicarbazones as colorimetric chemosensors for fluoride and cyanide ions and DFT studies

High toxicity and extensive accessibility of fluoride and cyanide ions in diverse environmental media encouraged attention for scheming well-organized probes for their detection. Keeping in mind we have designed and synthesized thiosemicarbazone-based chemosensors RB-1, RB-2 and RB-3 for the detection of fluoride and cyanide ions. The structural elucidation of the synthesized chemosensors is done by employing different analytical techniques including nuclear magnetic resonance and electronic absorption specrtoscopies. Admirable detection limit, binding constant and fast response time (2 s) to F(−) and CN(−) ions enlarged the applications of these chemosensors. Additional confirmation of the sensing ability of these chemosensors is derived from DFT and TDDFT calculations with M06/6-311G(d,p) method by performing FMO, UV–Vis, QTAIM and global reactivity parameters elucidation. Overall results point out that investigated chemosensors are suitable candidates for sensing the F(−) ions. These chemosensors were successfully applied to detect F(−) ions in a commercial toothpaste sample.