A chemosensing approach for the detection of Cu2+ ion using benzothiazole based probe and its applications in anticancer studies

The current research work describes the design and synthesis of a novel chemosensor
(2-(benzo[d]thiazol-2-yl)-6-(((4-bromophenyl)imino)methyl)phenol) (HBPA) for the detection of metal ions. Formation of the probe (HBPA) was confirmed by using various spectroscopic techniques. The sensing ability of HBPA with various metal ions were examined by colorimetric and fluorimetric techniques and the obtained results confirmed the selective detection of Cu2+ ions by the probe with the limit of detection of 2.0300 × 10−4 M. The probe exhibited good binding constant with the Cu2+ ion as 3.6957 ± 0.33 × 104 M−1. Spectral results revealed 1:2 stoichiometry in the complex HBPA-Cu2+ during interaction between metal and probe. Experimental observations on binding of the probe with copper ions was corroborated with density functional theory (DFT). Further, the cytotoxic nature of the probe and probe-Cu2+ have been examined with HeLa (human cervical cancer cells) and HepG2 (human liver cancer cells) and the obtained results revealed that the compounds possessed good cytotoxic activity compared with the positive control doxorubicin. HBPA acts as a good chemosensor for the detection of Cu2+ ion as well as exhibits good cytotoxic activity towards the HepG2 and HeLa cell lines.