A new fluorescent chemosensor for Pb²⁺ ions based on naphthalene derivatives.

A new naphthalene derivative receptor (L) was synthesized and characterized with common spectroscopic methods. L exhibited a strong fluorescence enhancement in the presence of trace amounts of Pb(2+), attributable to photoinduced electron transfer (PET) effect, which also displayed high selectivity over a series of other metal cations (Na(+), K(+), Cs(+), Mg(2+), Ba(2+), Cr(3+), Mn(2+), Fe(3+), Fe(2+), Co(2+), Ni(2+), Cu(2+), Zn(2+), Cd(2+), Hg(2+) and Ag(+)) in acetonitrile/H2O (9:1, v/v) mixture.