The environmental toxicity, detonable characteristics and widespread usage of hydrazine in industrial activities, coupled with the fact that it is a leading candidate as a hydrogen reservoir, mean that selective methods for the detection of trace levels of hydrazine are much needed. We report herein a ratiometric chemodosimeter (P1) for the highly efficient detection of hydrazine at a lowest level of 1.79 × 10−9 M. The P1 probe was designed by the judicious anchoring of a naphthaoxazole skeleton to malononitrile. The same chemodosimeter also enables the bioimaging of hydrazine in live cells. The performance of P1 was tested in the form of test paper strips, as well as in the solid state for the identification of hydrazine vapours. The sensing mechanism was established through spectroscopic techniques and was further fortified through theoretical calculations using density functional theory.
