A water soluble Cu2+-specific colorimetric probe can also detect Zn2+ in live shrimp and aqueous environmental samples by fluorescence channel

Integratinh rhodamine 6 g hydrazide mechanochemically with natural ionophore aeruginic acid (H(2)L1) has resulted probe HL2 which is used in this work to develop a novel assay for easy, sensitive, and simultaneous detection and quantifications of Cu2+ and Zn2+ when both metal ions are present together in water. Performing acid induced amide bond cleavage and subsequent pH alteration back to the physiological condition (i.e. pH 7.4), simultaneous detection and estimations of Cu2+ and Zn2+ are possible with the use of two optical techniques such as UV-vis and fluorescence. Live whole organism imaging experiments indicated that the probe HL2 could indeed be useful to stain both Cu2+ and Zn2+ very efficiently using the proposed methodology. Moreover, the method has also successfully applied for simultaneous estimations Cu2+ and Zn2+ in environmental water samples. (c) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.