Harnessing the cation-π interactions of metalated gold monolayer-protected clusters to detect aromatic volatile organic compounds.
Talanta 2023;
253:123915. [PMID:
36155323 DOI:
10.1016/j.talanta.2022.123915]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2022] [Revised: 08/18/2022] [Accepted: 09/02/2022] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
The strong, non-covalent interactions between π-systems and cations have been the focus of numerous studies on biomolecule structure and catalysis. These interactions, however, have yet to be explored as a sensing mechanism for detecting trace levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). In this article, we provide evidence that cation-π interactions can be used to elicit sensitive and selective chemiresistor responses to aromatic VOCs. The chemiresistors are fitted with carboxylate-linked alkali metals bound to the surface of gold monolayer-protected clusters formulated on microfabricated interdigitated electrodes. Sensor responses to aromatic and non-aromatic VOCs are consistent with a model for cation-π interactions arising from association of electron-rich aromatic π-systems to metal ions with the relative strength of attraction following the order K+ > Na+ > Li+. The results point toward cation-π interactions as a promising research avenue to explore for developing aromatic VOC-selective sensors.
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