A new molecular anion receptor, HL, was synthesized via condensation reaction of 2-hydroxy-3-methoxy-5-((2,4-dichlorophenyl)diazenyl)benzaldehyde, L, with 3-aminopropyl triethoxysilane in EtOH. Moreover, a novel hybrid organic-inorganic chromogenic material (HL/MCM-41) was also prepared by covalently anchoring of HL onto MCM-41 scaffold. The prepared chromogenic probe was proved using various characterization techniques such as XRD, FE-SEM, BET, TGA, and FT-IR. Remarkably, HL/MCM-41 act as a solid chromogenic probe and shows unique and rapid sensitivity towards CN−, over other interfering anions such as H2PO4ˉ, AcOˉ, Fˉ, Clˉ, and Brˉ, in water and could it easily visualized through naked eye detection even at 5×10-3 molL-1 without any spectroscopic instrumentation.
