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Research in our group covers a wide spectrum of areas at the forefront of Chemistry and Biology, be it low molecular weight hydrogelators, biodegradable polymers for drug delivery applications, scalable green synthesis of nanomaterials, or fluorescent molecules for sensing applications. This talk will focus on the fluorescent molecules developed in our lab for analyte sensing applications. We had reported a fluorescent sensor for acrylamide that could detect its presence in aqueous-organic medium down to ppm levels.1 In continuation, we designed a fluorescent molecular tweezer (FMT) that selectively binds to the dihydrogen phosphate anions present in aqueous medium.2 Binding of anion induces conformational change in the sensor, resulting in changes in fluorescent signal. We utilized this to achieve white-light emission in aqueous-organic medium in the presence of phosphate anions. A recent FMT designed by us shows helical chirality and sensing of Lewis and Brönsted acids through changes in the charge-transfer characteristics. Results from this ongoing effort will be presented in the talk. |