Anion recognition through hydrogen bonding: a simple, yet highly sensitive, luminescent metal-complex receptor

Abstract

A new luminescent rhenium(I) polypyridyl-based receptor for a variety of inorganic anions has been designed and synthesized and this artificial receptor shows high affinities for halides, cyanide and acetate anions with binding constants as high as 104–105 M−1 and a detection limit as low as 10−8 M in CH2Cl2 solution.