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Highly Selective and Sensitive Benzimidazole Based Bifunctional Sensor for Targeting Inedible Azo Dyes in Red Chilli, Red Food Color, Turmeric Powder, and Cu(Ii) in Coconut Water

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Abstract

In this study, a simple Benzimidazole based bifunctional chemosensor 4-(2-(3,4-dimethoxyphenyl)-1H-benzo[d]imidazol-6-yl) benzene-1,2-diamine, L was synthesized and characterized. The sensor proved to be selective and sensitive towards detecting banned azo dyes Sudan Dye I, II, and Metanil Yellow via fluorescence turn-off response. The proposed mechanism of fluorescence quenching was the inner filter effect. LODs for Sudan I, II, and Metanil Yellow were found to be 0.009 µM, 0.012 µM, and 0.0073 µM, respectively. The developed chemosensor also showed a colorimetric response towards Cu (II) ions via an apparent color change from yellow to pink. LOD for Cu (II) ions was found to be 1.2 µM. The synthesized benzimidazole based bifunctional chemosensor was adequately tested to determine Sudan I in Red chili powder and red Food color samples, Metanil yellow in turmeric powder, and Cu(II) packaged coconut water.

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Data Availability

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article ( and its supplementary information files) The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the Chairman, Department of chemistry, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India, for providing necessary research facilities given to the department under SAP-DRS-II PURSE, and FIST programs are highly acknowledged. The authors would also like to acknowledge SAIF IIT Madras and SAIF Panjab University for providing NMR, Mass, and elemental analysis facilities.

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No funding was received for conducting this study.

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Conceptualization: [Ambreen Abbasi]; Methodology: [Ambreen Abbasi]; Formal analysis and investigation: [Ambreen Abbasi, Ifra Ilyas Ansari]; Writing—original draft preparation: [Ambreen Abbasi];

Writing—review and editing: [Ambreen Abbasi], Supervision: [Mohammad Shakir].

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Correspondence to Mohammad Shakir.

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Abbasi, A., Ansari, I.I. & Shakir, M. Highly Selective and Sensitive Benzimidazole Based Bifunctional Sensor for Targeting Inedible Azo Dyes in Red Chilli, Red Food Color, Turmeric Powder, and Cu(Ii) in Coconut Water. J Fluoresc 31, 1353–1361 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10895-021-02766-5

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