skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Inclusion of organic vapors by crystalline, solvatochromic [Pt(aryl isonitrile){sub 4}][Pd(CN){sub 4}] compounds. {open_quotes}Vapochromic{close_quotes} environmental sensors

Journal Article · · Chemistry of Materials
; ;  [1]
  1. Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States); and others

The design and synthesis of environmental sensors have become an increasingly important area of research. Particularly acute is the need to detect environmentally hazardous substances such as VOCs (volatile organic compounds) down to the part per million level and lower. Many detection systems that consist of a chemically sensitive layer and a transducer device have been proposed: conducting polymers; Langmuir-Blodgett multilayers deposited on waveguide surfaces, a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM), or a surface acoustic wave (SAW) device; and lifetime sensing of fluorescence with phase modulated detection. In general, the underlying data acquisition and analysis instrumentation of the transducer is in hand, but the design of rugged, well-characterized chemically sensitive layers has only more recently been addressed. We have set out to design, synthesize, and study crystalline host compounds that show a pronounced shift in visible absorption or emission spectra upon inclusion of organic vapor guest molecules ({open_quotes}vapochromism{close_quotes}). Host compounds of this type with the proper sensitivity and selectivity could easily find use as the chemically sensitive layer in optical detection schemes. Described here are the first mechanistic studies of the [Pt(aryl isonitrile){sub 4}][Pd(CN){sub 4}] compounds reported by Nagel{sup 5} to change color reversibly when exposed to VOC vapors. 17 refs., 3 figs., 1 tab.

Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC07-76ID01570
OSTI ID:
535295
Journal Information:
Chemistry of Materials, Vol. 7, Issue 1; Other Information: PBD: Jan 1995
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English