Turning Supramolecular Receptors into Chemosensors by Nanoparticle-Assisted "NMR Chemosensing"

By exploiting a magnetization transfer between monolayer-protected nanoparticles and interacting analytes, the NMR chemosensing protocol provides a general approach to convert supramolecular receptors into chemosensors via their conjugation with nanoparticles. In this context, the nanoparticles provide the supramolecular receptor not only with the “bulkiness” necessary for the NMR chemosensing approach but also with a different selectivity as compared to the parent receptor. We here demonstrate that gold nanoparticles of 1.8 nm core coated with a monolayer of 18-crown-6 ether derivatives can detect and identify protonated primary amines in methanol and in water, and even discriminate between two biogenic diamines that are selectively detected over monoamines and α-amino acids.