Structural Features of a Family of Coumarin-Enamine Fluorescent Chemodosimeters for Ion Pairs.

A family of coumarin-enamine chemodosimeters is evaluated for their potential use as fluorescent molecular probes for multiple analytes [cadmium(II), cobalt(II), copper(II), iron(II), nickel(II), lead(II), and zinc(II)], as their chloride and acetate salts. These fluorophores displayed excellent optical spectroscopic modulation when exposed to ion pairs with different Lewis acidic and basic properties in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). The chemodosimeters were designed to undergo excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT), which leads to significant Stokes shifts (ca.