Fluorescence materials for sensors of heavy metal ions

Altair Center proposes to develop a simple and efficient fluorescence optical fiber sensor for monitoring of heavy metal ions (HMI) in storm water, sediments and during various industrial processes. The sensor employs the effect of strong fluorescencequenching/enhancement in the presence of heavy metal ions. The main principle of signal amplification, as distinct from other luminescence indicators, is based on the energy transfer process between two different chromophores immobilized in a polymer film.It has been recently demonstrated that such bi-chromophore sensor provides a nonlinear signal transduction considerably enhancing the sensor sensitivity to the analyte. Moreover, such approach can strongly increase the sensor selectivity to the targetmetal ions due to higher specificity of the sensor fluorescence spectra. Anticipated sensitivity of the device to the HMI will be in the ppb region or better.In phase I of the project we will synthesize the receptor chromophores specific to most common pollutants and demonstrate the ability of proposed system to the strong luminescence change in the presence of HMI. In Phase II the developed technology will beallied to fabricating a Prototype chemosensor system for detection of HMIs, will be tested, optimized and delivered to DoD.The proposed sensors can be immediate applied to monitoring of the water pollution in places with hazardous waste sites and different industrial sources releasing HMI. Fiber optical sensing will allow monitoring of the remote area without any risk foroperating personal. In addition, such system will find many commercial applications in chemical and biotechnology industry. The market analysis indicates to a highly growing interest to such low-cost and effective sensor devices.