Simple but powerful chemosensors were developed by taking advantage of self-assembly processes. First, we will describe a turn-on fluorescent sensor for the pharmacologically important lithium ion. The sensor can be used in purely aqueous solution, and it displays a very high selectivity for lithium over sodium and magnesium ions. It is based on a metallacrown receptor unit, which can be assembled in situ from simple building blocks. Furthermore, we will describe a cross-reactive sensor array for the detection of small peptides. The individual sensors of the array are formed by mixing metal complexes with fluorescent dyes.
Andreas Schueler, Anna Krammer, Maxime Lagier, Olivia Valérie Charlotte Bouvard, Luc Burnier