A glow of recognition
Researchers at MIT have developed a new way of revealing the presence of specific chemicals — whether toxins, disease markers, pathogens or explosives. The system visually signals the presence of a target chemical by emitting a fluorescent glow.The approach combines fluorescent molecules with an open scaffolding called a metal-organic framework (MOF). This structure provides lots of open space for target molecules to occupy, bringing them into close proximity with fluorescent molecules that react to their presence.The findings were reported in the Journal of the American Chemical Society in a paper by assistant professor of chemistry Mircea Dincă, with postdoc Natalia Shustova and undergraduate student Brian McCarthy, published online in November and to appear in a forthcoming print issue.The work could have significant applications in sensors attuned to specific compounds whose detection could be read at a glance simply by watching for the material to glow. “A lot of known sensors...