Feasibility of using liquid crystals for the development of molecularly selective fiber-optic chemical sensors.

A new type of fiber-optic chemical sensor has been developed for the determination and differentiation of geometric isomers. The operation of the sensor is based upon the molecular-geometric-selective absorption of polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) on a liquid crystal. The selective interaction of a PAH with a liquid-crystal substrate causes quenching of the liquid-crystal fluorescence. Detection limits of such a device for PAH compounds approach 10(-10) mol/cm3; the sensor response time is about 2 min. Because the sensor is based upon physical absorption, it is reusable and reversible.