Engineering of cyclometallated platinum(II) complexes incorporating acetylide ligands for chemosensing

A series of new cyclometalated phenylbipyridyl platinum(II) acetylide complexes was investigated for their photophysical and heavy metal binding properties. Both the absorption and emission properties of platinum(II) complexes with functionalized acetylide ligands as specific receptors for heavy metal ions can be strongly affected upon binding to specific metal ions so that they can be used as models of highly sensitive chemosensors.