TETRAAZACYCLOPHANES AS HOST MOLECULES FOR SOLVENT VAPORS - MASS-SENSITIVE DETECTION AND FORCE-FIELD CALCULATIONS

The principles of host-guest chemistry are applied to the design of chemically sensitive layers. Substituted tetraazacyclophanes are used as coatings for a mass-sensitive quartz microbalance. Thus, a variety of solvent vapours can be detected with a high sensitivity in the ppm range with very small water cross-sensitivities. This procedure is especially suitable for halogenated and aromatic hydrocarbons, such as tetrachloroethylene and benzene. Evidence for the host-guest binding mechanism is given by the satisfying correlation between the sensor response and the complexation energies calculated by force-field methods.