Luminescence Sensors Applied to Water Analysis of Organic Pollutants—An Update

The development of chemical sensors for environmental analysis based on fluorescence, phosphorescence and chemiluminescence signals continues to be a dynamic topic within the sensor field. This review covers the fundamentals of this type of sensors, and an update on recent works devoted to quantifying organic pollutants in environmental waters, focusing on advances since about 2005. Among the wide variety of these contaminants, special attention has been paid polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, pesticides, explosives and emerging organic pollutants. The potential of coupling optical sensors with multivariate calibration methods in order to improve the selectivity is also discussed

Desarrollo de sensores ópticos y métodos separativos como herramientas actuales en química analítica. Comparación metodológica

Tesis Univ. Granada. Departamento de Química Analítica. Leída el 28 de septiembre de 200

Volatile-organic-compound optic fiber sensor using a gold-silver vapochromic complex

7 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables.We describe a new gold-silver complex based on 2,2-bipyridine, whose formula is {Au2Ag2(C6F5)4[(C5H4N)-(C5H4N)]2}n, used to detect volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as ethanol, methanol, and acetic acid. This organometallic material is presented in the form of bright yellow powder, and suffers a change in its optical properties when it is exposed to VOCs. A new fiber optic sensor is presented based on the properties of a new vapochromic material. The sensor works in a reflection configuration and consists of an optic fiber pigtail (core diameter is 200 µm and cladding is 230 µm) on the cleaved end of which the vapochromic material, previously mixed with a commercially available solvent, Liquicoat®, is deposited by using the dip-coating technique. Using an optical source and a photodetector, it is possible to detect and quantify the change in reflected intensity-modulated signal when the sensor is exposed to VOC inside a sealed chamber. This behavior can be related to the VOC concentration. The study of the sensor's response is made at a specific wavelength for different VOC concentrations. Limits of detection of 2.16, 1.73, and 3.73 mg/L of vapors of ethanol, methanol, and acetic acid vapors, respectively, are attained.The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the FPU Grant of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport (reference AP2002-1033), Projects MAT 2003- 09074-C02-01, CICyT TIC2003-00909, and BQU2002- 04090-C02-02 of the Ministry of Science and Technology, and to Consejería de Medio Ambiente de la Junta de Andalucía and Gobierno de Navarra.Peer reviewe