Potassium ion recognition by facile dithiocarbamate assembly of benzo-15-crown-5-gold nanoparticles

Here we demonstrate a facile strategy of preparing gold nanoparticle (AuNP) crown ether assemblies by the generation of strongly binding dithiocarbamate (DTC) modified benzo-15-crown-5; we also report the efficient and selective ion sensing property of the novel assembly for K+.