From lab to life: Safe and efficient optical based dual-mode chemosensor for the detection of aluminium (III) and copper (II) ions.

[Display omitted] • New Schiff base sensor R4P developed using Rhodamine B fluorophore. • Highly sensitive and selective towards Al3+/Cu2+ in two solvent systems. • Low LOD, high K A , good anti-interference and reversibility properties. • Fabrication of strip for on-site detection using chromatography paper. • Low cytotoxicity of R4P makes it suitable for bio-imaging studies. In order to create a new Schiff base sensor R4P , rhodamine B hydrazide was directly combined with 4-propoxybenzaldehyde. The structure of this new sensor was completely revealed by spectroscopic methods, and a single crystal that could be used for X-ray diffraction techniques was produced. Under a UV lamp, the colourless and non-fluorescent R4P solution exhibits an orange fluorescence enhancement when Al3+ is present and showed a pink colour change when Cu2+ is present. Spectroscopic tools like UV, fluorescence, MS and NMR spectroscopy were used to study the recognition performance and complexation process of the sensor. The findings demonstrated that sensor R4P , with a limit of detection as low as 10-8 M and an association constant of ×104 M−1, is highly sensitive and selective towards both Al3+ and Cu2+ in two different solvent systems. Additionally, the designed system had a reasonable recovery range of above 89% for Al3+ and Cu2+ in two chosen water samples of natural mineral water and tap water. Moreover, a paper-based test strip that can detect target metal ions both colorimetrically and fluorometrically was created utilising chromatography paper. Aside from that, R4P 's minimal cytotoxicity marks it appropriate for bio-imaging studies on metal ion sensing using the fluorescence response in the HCT 116 cell line. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]