Design of a semirigid molecule as a selective fluorescent chemosensor for recognition of Cd(II)

A new 8-hydroxyquinoline-based chemosensor possessing a semirigid structure was designed, and its fluorescent sensing behavior toward metalions was investigated. A prominent fluorescence enhancement only for Cd(2+) was found in aqueous methanol solution. The results clearly suggest that the specific semirigid structure could selectively accommodate Cd(2+) according to ionic radius, which would effectively suppress the intramolecular radiationless transitions from the n pi* state to enhance the fluorescence response.