Anion recognition and sensing by transition-metal complexes with polarized N-H recognition motifs

Transition-metal complexes for anion recognition and sensing have attracted increasing attention due to their rich spectroscopic and luminescent properties upon interacting with anions. In this review, we summarize the recent progress made with transition-metal complexes for anion sensing purposes. We focus on ruthenium(II), rhenium(I) and iridium(III) polypyridyl complexes with different polarized N-H recognition motifs acting as the anion receptors. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.