Fluorescent Polymeric AND Logic Gate with Temperature and pH as Inputs

摘要

Molecular logic gates which can simultaneously treat multiple inputs have been extremely interesting as intelligent "bottom-up" materials. In particular, a fluorescence signal can be detected even in one molecule, and therefore many fluorescent logic gates showing AND, OR, XOR, NAND, and INHIBIT functions were reported as molecular-level devices. However, the inputs to these fluorescent logic gates have been limited to chemical species such as ions or molecules. Nevertheless, these serve a valuable role as smart sensors for such species. Current sensor research has the benefit of several molecular and supramolecular designs. Here, we demonstrate the first use of the most physically important parameter "temperature" as one of the inputs to a fluorescent logic gate or smart sensor, where a sharp thermal response has been designed in. This AND logic gate with the physiologically useful inputs of temperature and pH is based on a general polymeric design. Polymeric materials can have advantages over small molecule systems.