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This review highlights how the combination of supramolecular principles and nanoscopic solid structures enables the design of new hybrid sensing ensembles with improved sensitivity and/or selectivity and for the targeting of analytes for which selectivity is hard to achieve by conventional methods. Such ideas are bridging the gap between molecules, materials sciences and nanotechnology. Relevant examples will be detailed, taking into account functional aspects such as (1) enhanced coordination of functionalized solids, (2) enhanced signalling through preorganization, (3) signalling by assemblydisassembly of nanoscopic objects, (4) biomimetic probes utilizing discrimination by polarity and size and (5) distinct switching and gating protocols. These strategies are opening new prospects for sensor research and signalling paradigms at the frontier between nanotechnology, smart materials and supramolecular chemistry.
Design strategies for (bio)chemical systems that are inspired by nature's accomplishments in system design and operation on various levels of complexity are increasingly gaining in importance. Within the broad field of biomimetic chemistry, this article highlights various attempts toward improved and sophisticated sensory materials that rely on the combination of supramolecular (bio)chemical recognition principles and nanoscopic solid structures. Examples range from more established concepts such as hybrid sensing ensembles with improved sensitivity and selectivity or for target analytes for which selectivity is hard to achieve by conventional methods, which were often inspired by protein binding pockets or ion channels in membranes, to very recent approaches relying on target-gated amplified signalling with functionalised mesoporous inorganic supports and the integration of native biological sensory species such as transmembrane proteins in spherically supported bilayer membranes. Besides obvious mimicry of recognition-based processes, selected approaches toward chemical transduction junctions utilizing artificially organized synapses, hybrid ensembles for improved antibody generation and uniquely colour changing systems are discussed. All of these strategies open up exciting new prospects for the development of sensing concepts and sensory devices at the interface of nanotechnology, smart materials and supramolecular (bio)chemistry.
Gated hybrid delivery systems: En route to sensory materials with inherent signal amplification
(2013)
Hybrid nanoparticles with a large specific surface area are a particularly exciting vehicle for delivery applications. Such highly porous or container-like structures, usually prepared from silica and frequently from gold, can incorporate a large number of chemical substances such as drug and/or indicator molecules. When equipped with a chemically or physically addressable gating function at the openings of the voids, the release of the cargo can be controlled at will. Because many more molecules can be stored as cargo in the pores of the support than there are functional groups as anchoring sites for the gating entities attached to the outer surface (for efficient pore capping), the systems possess inherent features of (signal) amplification. The present article will introduce various design strategies for different types of physical (light, temperature, magnetism) and chemical (pH, metal ions, anion, small organic molecules, enzymes) stimuli in connection with drug and indicator release. We will highlight exciting aspects of combining both features in theranostic applications and will stress which requirements still have to be met by many of the systems to be readily applicable in a sensory context.
A novel mesoporous silica material containing boron–dipyrromethene (BODIPY) moieties (I) is employed for the detection of nerve agent simulants (NASs) and the organophosphate nerve or chemical warfare agents (CWAs) Sarin (GB), Soman (GD), and Tabun (GA) in aqueous environments. The reactive BODIPY dye with an optimum positioned hydroxyl group undergoes acylation reactions with phosph(on)ate substrates, yielding a bicyclic ring. Due to aggregation of the dyes in water, the sensitivity of the free dye in solution is very low. Only after immobilization of the BODIPY moieties into the silica substrates is aggregation inhibited and a sensitive determination of the NASs diethyl cyanophosphonate (DCNP), diethyl chlorophosphate (DCP) and diisopropyl fluorophosphate (DFP) possible. The signaling mode is a strong quenching of the fluorescence, reaching LODs in the pM range. The best performing hybrid material was singled out from a library of hybrid silicas varying in morphology and surface functionalization. The response to actual CWAs such as GB, GD, and GA has also been tested, offering similar behavior as for the simulants. The proposed reaction mechanism has been verified by investigation of other model materials, containing for instance BODIPY moieties without an optimum hydroxyl group (III) or a BODIPY dye with an all-aliphatic counterpart (IV). The latter can only form a monocyclic reaction product, showing much less reactivity as I. Assays with other possible competitors have been additionally carried out, showing favorably low cross-reactivities. Finally, the determination of NASs in several natural waters has been demonstrated.
Supramolecular interactions are vital processes in many chemical sensors, biochemical assays, and other analytical detection schemes. On the background of the current, rapidly developing, and constantly changing requirements for (bio)analytical techniques, the classical molecular host is increasingly overburdened to accomplish a specific analytical task with the desired selectivity and sensitivity. Instead, other signaling strategies have to be conceived that overcome the limits in signal output, dynamic range, or compound targeting, which are imminent to various traditional methods. A very promising approach is the combination of concepts of supramolecular chemistry with nanostructured or nanoscopic inorganic materials, that is, the development of hybrid sensor materials. Such hybrids often lead to improved functionality and enhanced performance, and the present chapter discusses the contributory features in relation to the major aspects, which are related to the enhanced coordination by the preorganization of binding sites, signal amplification by the preorganization on surfaces, aggregation‐mediated signaling, surface‐modification‐based signaling, the tuning of selectivity through polarity and size, and gated signaling.
Test strips that in combination with a portable fluorescence reader or digital camera can rapidly and selectively detect chemical warfare agents (CWAs) such as Tabun (GA), Sarin (GB), and Soman (GD) and their simulants in the gas phase have been developed. The strips contain spots of a hybrid indicator material consisting of a fluorescent BODIPY indicator covalently anchored into the channels of mesoporous SBA silica microparticles. The fluorescence quenching response allows the sensitive detection of CWAs in the μg m−3 range in a few seconds.