Surface Co-Crystallization with an Organic Single Crystal Enables Vapochromic and Luminescent Detection of Phenols.

Authors

• Ivan Bondarenko, Reed College
• Kaleb Hood, Portland State University
• Elani J. Cabrera-Vega, Portland State University
• Aminata Dioume, New York University
• Alaric Shaw, Reed College
• Josephine Bicknell, Reed College
• Simon J. Teat, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley
• Nicholas S. Settineri, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley
• Andrea M. Goforth, Portland State UniversityFollow
• Stephanie S. Lee, New York University
• Jun Jiao, Portland State University
• Gonzalo Campillo-Alvarado, Reed College

Author ORCID Identifier(s)

Ivan Bondarenko (0009-0005-1462-2729)

Kaleb Hood (0000-0003-4206-6078)

Gonzalo Campillo-Alvarado (0000-0002-1868-8523)

Sponsor

We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the M. J. Murdock Charitable Trust (NS-202222588 and FSU-202118942), the National Science Foundation (CHE-2319929), and Reed College (start-up, Stillman Drake and summer research funds). I. B. appreciates support from the Center for Life Beyond Reed in the form of a Climate Change Educational Fund Fellowship. This study was supported in part by the Paul K. Richter & Evalyn Elizabeth Cook Richter Memorial Fund and the Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation. This research used resources of the Advanced Light Source, which is a DOE Office of Science User Facility under contract no. DE-AC02-05CH11231. Acknowledgment is made to the donors of the American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund for support of this research.

Published In

Chemical Science

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-18-2026

Subjects

Phenols, Organic Single Crystals, Vapochromic and Luminescent Detection

Abstract

We present a novel approach for the vapochromic and luminescent detection of phenols through surface co-crystallization with single crystals of 9,10-bis(()-2-(pyridin-4-yl)vinyl)anthracene BP4VA. Upon exposure to 2,4,6-trifluorophenol (2,4,6-TFP), 3,4,5-trifluorophenol (3,4,5-TFP), and phenol (PhOH) vapor, BP4VA crystals exhibit significant changes in color and fluorescence intensity, offering a sensitive detection method. Detailed structural insights into intermolecular interactions are obtained from single-crystal and powder X-ray diffraction, as well as FT-IR and H NMR spectroscopies. Scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy demonstrate the reversibility of these changes, with crystal morphology and surface composition nearly returning to near-pristine single crystals of BP4VA after annealing. The recoverability of single crystals enables a promising platform for the detection of volatile organic compounds.

Rights

Copyright (c) 2026 The Authors

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Locate the Document

https://doi.org/10.1039/d6sc05755a

DOI

10.1039/d6sc05755a

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/45180

Publisher

Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)

Citation Details

Bondarenko, I., Hood, K., Cabrera-Vega, E. J., Dioume, A., Shaw, A., Bicknell, J., Teat, S. J., Settineri, N. S., Goforth, A. M., Lee, S. S., Jiao, J., & Campillo-Alvarado, G. (2026). Surface co-crystallization with an organic single crystal enables vapochromic and luminescent detection of phenols. Chemical Science, 17(34), 16163–16169.