Abstract
Four water-soluble dendrimers with sumanene or triphenylene cores were obtained with the intended application as molecular receptors. Their water solubilities were found to vary from 46 to 820 μM. Solubility values strongly correlated with free energy of dimerization values calculated using umbrella sampling method (a molecular dynamics-based method.). Moreover, it was found that the fluorescence of two compounds was selectively quenched in the presence of group 13 cations (Al(3+), Ga(3+), and In(3+)) in water with nanomolar limit of detection values. Structures of the formed complexes were proposed based on cation-binding site studies by (13)C-{(1)H} NMR spectroscopy. Performance of a selected compound in the analysis of real-life water samples was examined. It was found that the compound was capable of detecting group 13 cation contamination in surface water samples when the organic substance content was low. The obtained compounds are the first known water-soluble sumanene derivatives and the first sumanene derivatives capable of group 13 cation detection.