Abstract:
Mesoporous silica functionalized with a 2-hydroxy-naphthyl moiety has been synthesized and character ized by standard techniques like powder X-ray diffraction, N2 adsorption/desorption studies, transmission
electron microscopy and spectral studies like FT-IR, UV-visible, fluorescence and 13C and 29Si solid state
NMR. The functionalized silica material showed significant enhancement in its emission intensity in the
presence of Al3+ ions whereas other metal ions could not bring about any increase in its emission inten sity. They either quench the emission or do not alter the intensity significantly making the functionalized
material a fluorescence chemosensor for Al3+. The sensitivity of the probe towards Al3+ has been deter mined to be high with a low limit of detection value. As functionalized silica is not soluble in common sol vents, it has been effectively used to bind and remove Al3+ from a solution. Theoretical calculations on a
model system have been performed to investigate the electronic spectral transitions
