Comparative study on 2-amino-1,4-naphthoquinone derived ligands as indium (III) selective PVC-based sensors

The three different ligands (Q2 to Q4) based on 2-amino-1,4-naphthoquinone (Q1), have been synthesized and explored as neutral ionophores for preparing polyvinyl chloride-based membrane sensors selective to indium (III). The addition of potassium tetrakis(4-chlorophenyl) borate and various plasticizers, viz., o-NPOE, DBP, DBBP, DOP and CN has been found to substantially improve the performance of the sensors. The best performance was obtained with the sensor no. 16 having membrane of ligand (Q2) with composition (%, w/w) ionophore Q2 (3.0%):PVC (30.0%):o-NPOE (63.0%):KTpClPB (4.0%). This sensor exhibits Nernstian response with slope 19.8 mV/decade of activity in the concentration range 2.5 × 10−7 to 1.0 × 10−2 M indium (III), performs satisfactorily over wide pH range of (2.5–7.5) with a fast response time (10 s). The sensor was also found to work satisfactorily in partially non-aqueous media up to 20% (v/v) content of acetonitrile, ethanol and methanol. The proposed sensor can be used over a period of 3.5 months without significant drift in potentials. The quantitative application of sensor was also evaluated by comparative analysis of artificially made sea water with AAS.