Platinum Complex Assemblies as Luminescent Probes and Tags for Drugs and Toxins in Water

A reactive phosphorescent probe for aza-heterocyclic drugs and toxins was developed, affording a supramolecular emission-switch-on chemosensor in water. Complex formation of the heterocycles with a platinum(II) precursor proceeds readily at ambient conditions, allowing for facile analyte screening. Fifty-two structurally diverse compounds were tested, out of which 23 pyridines, imidazoles, and triazoles formed strongly emissive complex aggregates. Importantly, they all can be clearly distinguished from each other through a principal component analysis, but often also by simple visual inspection, for example, by their emission color differences (large shifts from blue to red). Also, kinetic reaction profiles and time-resolved emission features can provide valuable information for analyte distinction. The Pt^II complexes can be applied as emissive labels for drugs and biomolecules, owing to their advantageous photophysical properties and chemical stability in biological media such as blood.