Conformational switching in bis(zinc porphyrin) Langmuir-Schaefer film as an effective tool for selectively sensing aromatic amines.

A conformational switching of bis(zinc octaethylporphyrin) was observed, for the first time, in a Langmuir-Schaefer film as a consequence of appropriate host-guest interactions. The spectral changes are completely reversible and the high sensitivity (~20 ppb) and specificity for aromatic amines open up interesting prospects of this functional material as a performing sensor for amines.