A Novel Bis-Coumarin Gelator W for the Selective Detection of Al3+ and Its Biological Application

A novel bis-coumarin gelator W was designed and synthesized. The W has good gel behavior in ethanol, tertbutanol, and isopropanol solutions. The self-assembly mechanism of the W was investigated using techniques such as UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy, and XRD. The results show that the driving forces for gelation are: 7C -7C stacking, hydrogen bonding, and van der Waals forces, respectively. The effect of solvent on the gelation behavior is analyzed in the Teas plot, which shows that the solvent and the W can only form gels under the appropriate force. Through the optical performance test, the W can specifically recognize Al3+. The detection limit is as low as 7.32 x 10-7 M, the complexation constant is Ka = 1.033 x 103M-1. In addition, the cytotoxicity test of the two cell lines shows that their toxicity is low, which indicates that the W can be used in the field of bioengineering.