Benzothiazole modified rhodol as chemodosimeter for the detection of sulfur mustard simulant

In this paper, we introduced a new sensor for detecting sulfur mustard (SM) and its simulant through the functionalization of a rhodol chromophore with benzothiazole, followed by thionation of the spirolactam. The synthesized chemodosimeter (RHBT) exhibited an obvious green-yellow fluorescence enhancement and chromogenic change from colorless to fuchsia in the presence of SM and its simulant stimuli, which is based on the spirothiolactam ring opening of rhodol induced by the synergy of S-alkylation of thiolactam and the excited state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) of rhodol-benzothiazole. Furthermore, the chemodosimeter was successfully demonstrated for the rapid detection of SM and its simulant in solution, soil and air at ambient temperature, indicating its potential application for on-site detection of sulfur mustard.