Rapid colorimetric discrimination of cyanide ions – mechanistic insights and applications
Arunkumar Kathiravan, Selvaraj Sengottiyan, Tomasz Puzyn, Pushparathinam Gopinath, Kanagachidambaresan Ramasubramanian, Praveen Ayyappan Susila, Mariadoss Asha Jhonsi
Abstract
H NMR titration and density functional theory calculations. The results reveal that the colorimetric response of the DMN probe is due to the Michael adduct formation in the β-conjugated position of the dicyanovinyl group with cyanide, which blocks intramolecular charge transfer transition. Under optimized experimental conditions, the DMN probe showed a linear plot in the concentration range of 0.01-0.25 μM, with a detection limit of 23 nM. Further, a 3D printed portable accessory for the smartphone and an open-source android application is developed to suit the DMN probe for on-site work. In addition, we have developed the microfluidic paper-based analytical device that could selectively detect cyanide ions at very low concentration using a colorimetric DMN probe. In addition, the DMN probe was effectively used to determine the cyanide ion in a variety of water samples.