Study on changes in optical properties of phenylbenzothiazole derivatives on metal ion binding.

The UV-visible and fluorescence properties of hydroxy substituted benzothiazole derivatives change on interactions with zinc(II), cadmium(II) and mercury(II) ions. The binding of 2-(2'-hydroxyphenyl)benzothiazole is specific to zinc(II) over cadmium(II) and mercury(II). Similar type of interactions of zinc(II), cadmium(II) and mercury(II) with 2-(2',3',4'-trihydroxyphenyl)benzothiazole is observed in their UV-visible absorptions, whereas 2-(4'-hydroxyphenyl)benzothiazole shows interactions with mercury(II) over the other two ions.