Supramolecular strategies in chemical sensing

Supramolecular chemistry can be utilized for chemical sensor technology wit h compounds like cyclodextrins, paracyclophanes and calixarenes that are ca pable to form, host-guest complexes. Optimizations of the structures by cha nging the diameter and the height of the cavity or converting the polarity into hydrophobic ones allow to tune the sensitivity of these materials towa rds different analytes. Further improvements of sensor coating were availab le with the development of molecular imprinting techniques that generate ri gid and sensitive layers directly on the transducer of interest. This enabl es the detection of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the liquid p hase down to a concentration of 30 ng/l. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.