The development of a novel all-solid-state optical sensor array based on heteroatomic macrocyclic fluorophores (diaza-crown ether, metallocorrole and pyridinophans) for the photographic analysis of liquid media, is presented. The sensitivity of the new optical system toward a number of different species (cations: Li+, K+, Na+, NH4+, Mg2+, Ca2+, Co2+, Cu2+, Zn2+, Cd2+, Pb2+ and anions: NO2-, NO3-, Cl−, Br−, HCO3-) was evaluated both in single selective sensor mode and in multisensory arrangement. The satisfactory PLS1 regression models between sensor array optical response and analyte concentration were obtained for Cd2+, Cu2+, Zn2+, and NO2- ions in all the range of tested concentrations. Among these species the highest attention was focused onto detection of cadmium and nitrite ions, for which the detection limits, DL, estimated by 3σ method were found 0.0013 mg/L and 0.21 mg/L respectively, and these values are lower than the corresponding WHO guideline values of 0.003 mg/L (Cd2+) and 2 mg/L (NO2-). The suitability of the developed sensors implemented with familiar devices for signal acquisition (Light Emitting Diode, LED, as light source and a digital camera as a signal detector), and chemometric methods for data treatment to perform fast and low-cost monitoring of species under interest, in real samples of environmental importance, is demonstrated.

The synthesis, spectroscopic, and optical properties of the water-soluble phosphorus complex of a 2-sulfonato-10-(4-sulfonatophenyl)-5,15-dimesitylcorrole have been investigated. The compound was prepared by adopting a novel strategy for the corrole sulfonation, leading to the regioselective isomer in an almost quantitative yield. The phosphorus coordination has a key role in determining the corrole substitution pattern, limiting the formation of poly-substituted species, which affected the reaction of the corrole free base. The resulting complex shows excellent optical properties in terms of emission quantum yield, also in polar protic solvents, including water. P NMR spectroscopy in CD OD indicates that the P sulfonate complex has been isolated in a hexacoordinated geometry with two different ligands (L1=-OH, L2=-OCH ), and it is prone to axial ligand exchange with methanol, with no evidence of intermediate pentacoordinated species. The morphological characterization of thin layers of the P corrole deposited onto an Au(111) surface showed that the addition of an intermediate layer of reduced graphene oxide allows for a better control of corrole aggregation, inducing also transformation of the Au(111) reconstructed surface.

Optical chemical sensors are widely applied in many fields of modern analytical practice, due to their simplicity in preparation and signal acquisition, low costs, and fast response time. Moreover, the construction of most modern optical sensors requires neither wire connections with the detector nor sophisticated and energy-consuming hardware, enabling wireless sensor development for a fast, in-field and online analysis. In this review, the last five years of progress (from 2017 to 2021) in the field of optical chemical sensors development for persistent organic pollutants (POPs) is provided. The operating mechanisms, the transduction principles and the types of sensing materials employed in single selective optical sensors and in multisensory systems are reviewed. The selected examples of optical sensors applications are reported to demonstrate the benefits and drawbacks of optical chemical sensor use for POPs assessment.

The chiral self-aggregation of (l)-proline porphyrin derivatives depends on both the nature of the media and the coordinated metal ion.

Hybrid silica‐organic nanohelices are used to organize a large variety of nonchiral small organic molecules or inorganic anions to nanometer‐sized assemblies. Such chiral organization of achiral molecules induces chiroptical properties as detected by vibrational or electronic circular dichroism (CD), as well as from circularly polarized luminescence (CPL).