Cyclodextrin-Based Microsensors for Volatile Organic Compounds

Abstract

Host-guest chemistry and self-assembly techniques are being explored to develop species selective thin-films for real-time sensing of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Cyclodextrin (CD) and calixarene (CA) molecules are known to form guest-host inclusion complexes with a variety of organic molecules. Through the control of the cavity size and chemical functionality on the rims of these bucket-like molecules, the binding affinities for formation of inclusion complexes can be controlled and optimized for specific agents. Self-assembly techniques are used to covalently bond these reagent molecules to the surface of acoustic transducers to create dense, highly oriented, and stable thin films. Self-assembly techniques have also been used to fabricate multilayer thin film containing molecular recognition reagents through alternating adsorption of charged species in aqueous solutions. Self-assembly of polymeric molecules of the SAW device was also explored for fabricating species selective interfaces.