Synthesis and optical determination of chemosensor toward Cu(II) and Hg(II)

A new chemosensor based on rhodamine B (1) for $Hg^{2+}$ and $Cu^{2+}$ was synthesized by one-step condensation reaction of rhodamine B hydrazide and Azo dye. Studying for its fluorogenic and colorimetric behaviors towards various metal ions, extreme sensitivity and selectivity were achieved by the detection of $Hg^{2+}$ and $Cu^{2+}$ over other commonly coexistent metal ions, which were accompanied by ring opening of a rhodamine spirocycle framework. In acetonitrile, the presence of $Hg^{2+}$ and $Cu^{2+}$ induces the formation of a Dye 1-ion complex, which was deduced by spectroscopy.