| Cyanide is well known for its extreme toxicity to mammals, due to its ability to bind to the active site of cytochrome oxidase and inhibit cellular respiration. However, cyanide is still widely used for the metal mining (Gold), polymer (nylon) manufacturing, and fishing. Accidental leaks and spills of cyanide can lead to devastating consequences. Therefore, it is highly essential to develop efficient, safe, simple, and direct sensing techniques for cyanide detection and quantification. As suggested by the World Health Organization, the maximum acceptable level of cyanide in drinking water is 1.9 muM. Thus, numerous analytical techniques have been developed to detect and quantify cyanide at micromolar concentrations. Techniques such as calorimetric, titrimetric, voltametric and electrochemical methods are used for cyanide sensing and quantification. However, these methods are time consuming and uses sophisticated instruments, and are subject to interference by other anions. Recently several optical sensors for cyanide are developed, in which few substances changes color or fluorescence intensity selectively in the presence of cyanide and these are inexpensive and can be easily monitored. In this context, a new chemodosimeter based on nickel bis(dithiolene) for cyanide anion detection has been developed. They exhibit visual color change and UV-Vis absorption change selectively in the presence of cyanide anion over other interfering anions such as SO42-, AcO-, HCO 3-, Cl-, Br-, I -, NO3-, C2O4 2-, SCN-, and PO43- in 1:1 THF-H2O mixture. |
