Engineering luminescent molecules with sensing and logic capabilities

Abstract

The design of multifunctional molecular devices is an expanding frontier area of research encompassing the fields of materials science, nanotechnology, and supramolecular chemistry [1–3]. A current theme is to design molecules with individual components that operate independently of one another, yet work cooperatively as a team to produce devices with greater function than the sum of their individual parts [4–6]. Molecules with the capacity to perform a variety of stimuli-responsive functions based on built-in algorithms can, therefore, independently process information, and then of their own accord, provide a composite result autonomously [7–17]. Molecules with the ability to perform Boolean algebraic operations are the focus of this chapter