Rational design of a chromo- and fluorogenic hybrid chemosensor material for the detection of long-chain carboxylates

A strategy for the rational design of a new optical sensor material for the selective recognition of long-chain carboxylates in water is presented. The approach relies on the combination of structure−property relationships to single out the optimal molecular sensor unit and the tuning of the sensing characteristics of an inorganic support material. A spacer-substituted 7-urea-phenoxazin-3-one was employed as the signaling moiety and a mesoporous trimethylsilylated UVM-7 (MCM-41 type) material served as the solid support. The sensor material shows the advantageous features of both modules that is absorption and emission in the visible spectral range, a fluorescence red-shift and enhancement upon analyte coordination, and the amplification of noncovalent (binding) and hydrogen-bonding (recognition) interactions in the detection event. Besides these basic results that are related to the design and performance of the sensor material, the paper discusses general aspects of amido-substituted phenoxazinone photo...