Molecular Imprinting Through van der Waals Interactions: Fluorescence Detection of PAHs in Water

Abstract

Detection of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is important since they are known to be carcinogenic. The feasibility of detection by chemical sensors by means of fluorescence spectroscopy is demonstrated. It is described how sensor layers are produced by being polymerized in the presence of PAHs—molecular imprinting is effected via non-covalent interactions as PAHs have no pronounced functionality—which leaves hollows optimized for particular PAHs when the imprinting PAHs are removed. Analyte inclusion in the optimized hollows is shown to lead to favorable selectivities and excellent sensitivity.