Phenanthrimidazole as a fluorescent sensor with logic gate operations.

A novel sensor namely, 1-(1-(p-tolyl)-1H-phenanthro[9,10-d]imidazol-2-yl)naphthalen-2-ol was synthesised for the detection of anion as well as cation through intramolecular charge transfer mechanism. This compound was used for the selective detection of Zn(2+) ion as compared to other metal ions and the binding was evidenced from the new absorption band at 356 nm and switch on fluorescence at 453 nm. The switch on fluorescence can be explained on the basis of photoinduced electron transfer (PET) mechanism and it was demonstrated by logic gate functions.