Chemosensors of Ion and Molecule Recognition

The design and use of chemosensors for ion and molecule recognition - a branch of supramolecular chemistry - have developed at an extraordinary rate. This imaginative and creative area involves work at the interface of organic and inorganic chemistry, physical chemistry, biology, medicine and environmental science and is providing new sensors based on the specific signal delivered by the analyte-probe reaction. The emergence of efficient fluorescent receptors has allowed the detection, identification, and even titration of, for example, heavy metal or radionuclide pollutants. Further, with sensors displaying specific and strong complexation properties, such materials could be detected and removed at very low concentrations. Further, among other species of biological interest, sugars, oxygen and carbon dioxide can actually be probed with optodes and similar devices. This is clearly just the beginning of a very promising line of research. Audience: Organic chemists interested in creating new chemosensors, as well as the many potential end users of such sensors.