Chemical sensors that incorporate click-derived triazoles

Since the advent of click chemistry in 2001, the 1,4-disubstituted triazole has become an increasingly common motif in chemical sensors. Although these click-derived triazoles are generally used as a convenient method of ligation, their prevalence in chemosensors can be attributed to their ability to bind both cations and anions. In this critical review, we present an overview of the wide range of chemosensors that contain click-derived triazoles, with a particular focus on those cases where the triazole plays a functional, rather than merely a structural, role. Examples are categorised based on method of detection and key structural features, providing a complete picture of the current state of click-based chemosensors, as well as potential future directions for sensor design. (140 references).