A new rhodamine B derivative colorimetric and fluorescent double-sensor 1 has been investigated in this work. The sensor can select for Al3+ and Cu2+ in different systems. It exhibits highly sensitive recognition towards Al3+ in ethanol–H2O (2 : 3, v/v) via a visible color change from colorless to pink and an appearance of orange fluorescence. Whereas, in CH3CN–H2O buffer (3 : 2, v/v), the sensor shows a significant fluorescent enhancement for Cu2+ over a wide range of tested metal ions. Finally, the sensor can be used to detect Al3+ and Cu2+ in natural water samples with a high accuracy.
