A remarkable fluorescent cerium-based chemosensor for selective phosphate detection in aquaeous medium

Phosphates anions are important molecules for the society in general and involved for example in medicine or agriculture. Detection of them with chemosensor is a challenge due to the chemical properties of the anions. In this context, an exquisite chemosensor would have exquisite affinity, selectivity and low detection limit. Here we address this problem using a simple fluorescent indicator displacement assay (FID) with only commercially available chemicals used to probe phosphate ions in aqueous medium using cerium ammonium nitrate (CAN). The monomeric homoleptic complex detects phosphate ions in low millimolar concentrations either spectrophotometrically or with the naked-eye with high selectivity over other anions and high affinity. To our knowledge, this is the first description of a simple sensitive, selective and high affinity cerium-based chemosensor for the fluorescent selective naked-eye detection of phosphate in aqueous medium. It proved useful for the detection of phosphate in Coca Cola.