FROM OXYGEN TO SELENIUM: NOVEL NEUTRAL RECEPTORS FOR ANION RECOGNITION AND SENSING

The PhD thesis focusses on the design, the synthesis and the study of a new series of molecules containing the urea moiety that are able to act as receptors for anions, or, when suitably functionalised, as fluorescent and UV-Visible chemosensors for the selective recognition of anion target species in competitive media in free state or when embedded in micelles or nanoparticles systems. Our purpose was to investigate how and how much the variation of heteroatom in the urea site (moving from Oxygen to Sulfur to Selenium) can influence the anion binding capacity of the receptors. The anion binding abilities of the proposed receptors have been studied by means of 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, 77Se-NMR, UV-Visible and fluorescence spectroscopies and X-Ray crystallography, where possible, in order to investigate their applicability as colorimetric and fluorescent sensors.