The objective of this study was to develop a ratiometric and colorimetric organic sensor for Pb detection in environmental samples. A new probe 4-phenyl amino thiourea (PAT) was designed and synthesized using hydrazine hydrate and phenyl isothiocyanate as raw materials. After its structure was characterized and confirmed, its UV-vis spectral property was investigated in detail. PAT possesses a specifically real-time, ratiometric and colorimetric response to Pb in dimethyl formamide (DMF)/HO (v/v = 9:1, pH = 7.0) within 18.0 s. There was little interference in the presence of some other common metal ions, such as Fe, Cd, Zn, Mg, Cr, Ca, Ba, Sn, Na, Mn, Hg, and Pb. Under the optimized conditions (DMF/HO with v/v of 9:1, c = 1.0 × 10 mol·L, pH = 7.0), the present sensor PAT was successfully applied for Pb determination in environmental water samples with satisfied recoveries (83.0%-106.0%) and analytical precision (≤7.2%). The recognition mechanism was confirmed to form a stable 1:1 six-member ring complex between the target dye and Pb with a coordination constant of 4.96 × 10.
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