Inverse opals with reactive surface chemistry as sensors for aqueous pollutants.

Inverse opal colorimetric sensors operating on wetting transitions usually rely on physical differences of the infiltrating liquid. Here, we exploit a reactive surface chemistry that changes wettability upon binding of an analyte. Upon binding of Fe to a Schiff base immobilized on the porous structure, the surface becomes more hydrophilic, triggering the infiltration of the structure and causing the structural color to disappear.

Wetting-Controlled Localized Placement of Surface Functionalities within Nanopores.

In the context of sensing and transport control, nanopores play an essential role. Designing multifunctional nanopores and placing multiple surface functionalities with nanoscale precision remains challenging. Interface effects together with a combination of different materials are used to obtain local multifunctionalization of nanoscale pores within a model pore system prepared by colloidal templating.

Unimolecular Exciplexes by Ugi Four-Component Reaction.

Exciplex or excited complex emission is an excited state process, arising from considerable charge transfer of an excited energy donor to an acceptor, which can be identified by the occurrence of a redshifted emission band that is absent in the individual constituents. Particularly interesting are exciplexes that are formed by intramolecular excited state interaction, which are inherently concentration independent. Based upon our previous experience in the Ugi-4CR syntheses of donor-acceptor conjugates capable of photo-induced intramolecular electron transfer (PIET), that is, generation of light-induced charge separation, we now disclose the diversity-oriented approach on unimolecular exciplex emitters and their reference systems by Ugi-4CR.