New generation of fluorescent bicolour sensors for barium tagging experiments

Abstract

One of the most important questions in particle physics and cosmology consists of demonstrating that the neutrino is a Majorana fermion. Observation of the neutrinoless double β decay of 136Xe to generate the daughter cation 136Ba2+ is the most promising practical way to demonstrate this hypothesis. Within this context, our research group has designed and synthesized the first generation of fluorescent bicolour sensors (FBI-G1), whose emission spectra change upon binding to Ba2+ ions by formation of supramolecular complexes in dry media involving solid-gas interphases. In this presentation, the synthesis of a second generation (G2) of bicolour sensors is reported. These sensors have two essential components, a metal-binding group, and a fluorophore. The latest structure is based on a benzo[a]imidazo[2,1,5-cd]indolizine derivative (Figure 1: Description of generation 1 (left) and generation 2 (right) chemosensors). Finally, preliminary research involving the linkage of our sensors to surfaces such as indium tin oxide glass (ITO), will be discussed.