An anion probe molecule based on pyrrole derivative as its Schiff base (1,4-dicylaldehydepyrrole-2 ,4 -dinitrophenyl-hydrazone, 1) was designed and synthesized according to the binding site-signaling subunit approach. The compound was characterized by ¹H NMR, ESI-MS and elemental analyses. The binding properties of the probe with anions such as F^－, AcO^－, , Cl^－, Br^－ and I^－ were evaluated by fluorescence, UV-Vis and ¹H NMR spectra. The results obtained indicated that the compound 1 was a probe for colorimetric detection of F^－, AcO^－, , without resorting to any expensive spectroscopic instrumentation. In addition, addition of F^－, AcO^－, resulted in significant enhancement of the fluorescence of 1 at 413 nm, whereas the other anions tested had little influence on the fluorescence of 1. Job s plot showed the formation of 1/anions complexes of 1∶1 stoichiometry.

Key words: anion probe, colorimetric, pyrrole, fluorescence, Schiff base