ZnO-Salen NPs Employed as Chemosensor for Detection of Al(3+) and K(+) in Aqueous Medium, Developing Human Cell Images.

ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) were prepared and characterized by different analytical methods and then they were used to decorate with N, N´-bis(salicylidene)ethylenediamine (salen) in order to perform as receptor for the metal ions in an aqueous medium. The results show that ZnO-salen selectively detects Al(3+) ions in aqueous medium since the intensity of fluorescence has been enhanced significantly. However, the presence of K(+) in the medium further intensified the fluorescence emission for the [ZnO-salen-Al(3+)] system. The above system has been applied to recognize Al(3+) and K(+) in cells by developing the cell images, for which, the fluorescence image is brightened if a human glioblastoma U251 cell contains [ZnO-salen-Al(3+)] + K(+) ions, consisting of the fluorescence titration. The binding global constant for Al(3+) and the subsequent recognition of K(+) by ZnO-salen resulted in β(2)(Al(3+)) = 6.61 × 10(3) and β(2)(K(+)) = 3.71 × 10(3) with a detection limit of 36.51 µM for Al(3+) and 17.39 µM for K(+). In the cell toxicity analysis, the cell viability was over 85% for the ZnO-salen even in the concentration as high as 100 mM.