A porphyrin-based molecular tweezer: guest-induced switching of forward and backward photoinduced energy transfer.

A bisindole-bridged-porphyrin tweezer (1), a pair of zinc porphyrins (PZn's) connected to bisindole bridge (BB) via the Cu(I)-mediated alkyne-azide click chemistry, exhibited unique switching in forward and backward photoinduced energy transfer by specific guest bindings. The addition of Cu(2+) caused a change in electronic absorption and fluorescence quenching of 1. MALDI-TOF-MS and FT-IR analyses indicated the formation of stable coordination complex between 1 and Cu(2+) (1-Cu(II)).

A zinc porphyrin-based molecular probe for the determination of contamination in commercial acetonitrile.

A zinc porphyrin-based receptor containing four triazole groups at the ortho-position of each phenyl group (1) was utilized as a useful probe for the determination of contaminants in acetonitrile (MeCN). Through the simple observation of the absorption spectrum of 1 in MeCN, the cyanide contamination concentration could be directly determined.

Highly sensitive and selective cyanide detection via Cu2+ complex ligand exchange.

A new type of fluorescent probe (1) with two triazole groups that are conjugated with a carbazole moiety was synthesized by a Cu(I)-catalyzed alkyne-azide click reaction for the selective and sensitive detection of cyanide via fluorescence enhancement by ligand exchange and metal ion removal.