A Novel Highly Selective "Turn‐On" Fluorescence Sensor for Silver Ions Based on Schiff Base

A novel optical chemical sensor L was designed and synthesized for the determination of silver ions. The sensor L was derived from 1‐naphthaldehyde and 3,4,5‐tris(hexadecyloxy)benzohydrazide. The sensor L shows high sensitivity and selectivity for Ag + detection in comparison to other metal cations (Mg 2+ , Ca 2+ , Al 3+ , Cr 3+ , Fe 3+ , Co 2+ , Ni 2+ , Cu 2+ , Zn 2+ , Cd 2+ , Hg 2+ , Pb 2+ ) and has no significant response to other common metal cations. Upon addition of Ag + , the fluorescent emission of the sensor L was enhanced dramatically but other metal cations had no same response. The detection limit for Ag + was 1.2×10 −7 mol/L. Therefore, the sensor L is useful for Ag + detection with some advantages including sensitivity, selectivity, simplicity and low‐cost.