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Self‐Assembled Discrete Molecules for Sensing Nitroaromatics
Author(s) -
Shanmugaraju Sankarasekaran,
Mukherjee Partha Sarathi
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
chemistry – a european journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.687
H-Index - 242
eISSN - 1521-3765
pISSN - 0947-6539
DOI - 10.1002/chem.201406092
Subject(s) - picric acid , supramolecular chemistry , trinitrotoluene , chemistry , explosive material , combinatorial chemistry , quenching (fluorescence) , ligand (biochemistry) , molecule , tweezers , nanotechnology , stacking , fluorescence , materials science , organic chemistry , biochemistry , physics , receptor , quantum mechanics
Efficient sensing of trace amount nitroaromatic (NAC) explosives has become a major research focus in recent time due to concerns over national security as well as their role as environment pollutants. NO 2 ‐containing electron‐deficient aromatic compounds, such as picric acid (PA), trinitrotoluene (TNT), and dinitrotoluene (DNT), are the common constituents of many commercially available chemical explosives. In this article, we have summarized our recent developments on the rational design of electron‐rich self‐assembled discrete molecular sensors and their efficacy in sensing nitroaromatics both in solution as well as in vapor phase. Several π‐electron‐rich fluorescent metallacycles (squares, rectangles, and tweezers/pincers) and metallacages (trigonal and tetragonal prisms) have been synthesized by means of metal–ligand coordination‐bonding interactions, with enough internal space to accommodate electron‐deficient nitroaromatics at the molecular level by multiple supramolecular interactions. Such interactions subsequently result in the detectable fluorescence quenching of sensors even in the presence of trace quantities of nitroaromatics. The fascinating sensing characteristics of molecular architectures discussed in this article may enable future development of improved sensors for nitroaromatic explosives.