Phenolic acids, hydrophobic polyphenols containing a carboxylate moiety, protect plants from bacterial infection and UV light; they are also beneficial to human health through their anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and photoprotective properties. Xiyuan Yao, a graduate student in our group and an expert in hydrophobic interactions, constructed a series of supramolecular fluorescent sensors for these acids by combining a modified beta-cyclodextrin and six organic dyes, and showed that the multivariate spectroscopic data could be analyzed to discriminate structurally similar phenolic acids in neutral water. Her work was summarized in an invited paper published in Analysis and Sensing. Congratulations Xiyuan! |