Fluorometric/colorimetric logic gates based on BODIPY-functionalized mesoporous silica.

Functionalized mesoporous SiO2 nanoparticles are useful as colorimetric and fluorometric logic gates, which with various inputs such as metal ions induce photoinduced electron transfer (PET) and internal charge transfer (ICT) processes. We have demonstrated that metal ions acting as modulators in BODIPY-functionalized mesoporous SiO2 can generate absorbance changes in accordance with the operation of a half-adder digital circuit. In addition, a NAND logic gate in the emission mode was obtained which exploited a different binding affinity for metal ions for different ligands.