Dendrimers capable of detecting TNT have been developed and tested by scientists in Australia.
TNT and other nitroaromatic explosives are used in landmines. Current detectors for TNT are bulky and unsuitable for use in the field. Now Paul Burn, Paul Meredith and colleagues the University of Queensland have developed dendrimers that can sense nitroaromatic explosives. Burn and the team tested the performance of three generations of fluorescent carbazole dendrimers, in solution and in thin films, to identify differences in the binding between different explosives. This technology could help create portable sensors for detecting nitroaromatic explosives.
Read the full article here (free registration required): G Tang, S S Y Chen, P E Shaw, K Hegedus, X Wang, P L Burn and P Meredith, Polym. Chem., 2011, DOI: 10.1039/c1py00222h
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