Wearable Personal Hydrazine Monitoring System

We propose to develop a rapid, high sensitivity, personal monitoring device for hydrazine that is based upon the Surface Triggering of Propagated Crystal Lattice Destabilization (STPCLD) phenomenon. This represents a novel approach to rapid, high sensitivity sensors and is based upon noncovalent derivatization (NCD). The sensor will consist of a two-dimensional cocrystal film of a hydrazine-interacting molecule and a color-forming molecule. When bound within the crystal, the color-former is not colored, but when the crystal liquefies, the color-former takes on color. The uncolored crystal is maintained just below its phase transition temperature. When hydrazine interacts with one of the hydrazine-interacting molecules, it causes a defect in the two-dimensional lattice. Because the composition is chosen near the crystal melting temperature, the crystal is entropically poised to melt. A local liquefication occurs, which spreads rapidly along crystal dislocations. The specific objectives are: 1. To synthesize and prepare a set of bis-phthalimide derivatives for testing as hydrazine-interactive substrates. 2. To test the set of bis-phthalimide derivatives as hydrazine-interactive substrates for hydrazine induced melting. a. To determine the best substrate. b. To determine the ideal operating temperature. c. To determine the sensitivity to hydrazine and ammonia. 3. To design Phase II configuration.