A novel colorimetric sensing material, poly(g-Glutamic acid)-graft-3,4-Dihydro-3-(2¢-ethyl hydroxyl)-6-Ethyl-1,3,2H-Benzoxazine (g-PGA-graft-ethyl-Bx), for Iron(III) ions

A novel rapid ion colorimetric sensing material for iron(III) ions was developed from poly(γ-glutamic acid) and 3,4-dihydro-3-(2′-ethyl hydroxyl)-6-ethyl-1,3,2H-benzoxazine (ethyl-Bx). The benzoxazine as an ionophore segment was grafted into γ-PGA backbone via the esterification reaction, which is a simple and effective reaction. The structure of γ-PGA-graft-ethyl-Bx was characterized by using FT-IR and 1H-NMR. The most attainable degree of conversion was 25%. The γ-PGA-graft-ethyl-Bx showed a highly selective and sensitive recognition toward iron(III), which was clearly observable with the naked eye. The iron(III) ions sensing property of γ-PGA-graft-ethyl-Bx was further examined by using photometric titration method. After the interaction between the γ-PGA-graft-ethyl-Bx and iron(III) ions was formed, the solution of the polymer in dimethyl sulfoxide was changed from clear and colorless to red color, resulting in the shift of the maximum wavelength from UV to visible range