Colorimetric Fluoride Sensor Based on a Bisthiourea Functionalized Molecular Clip.

A new class of bisthiourea-functionalized molecular clips were designed and synthesized for anion recognition. Clip <bold>1</bold> showed excellent affinity to the biologically relevant fluoride ion in a 1:1 ratio as shown by UV-vis, ^�H and ^�9F NMR studies. Moreover, the binding was accompanied with visually noticeable color changes, enabling the compound to act as a colorimetric fluoride sensor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]