Polymers for Chemosensing

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue of Polymers is dedicated to the synthesis and functionalization of polymers for chemosensing applications. In recent decades, the development of conjugated polymers has attracted increasing attention, due to their use as highly sensitive fluorescent chemosensors. Several applications have been demonstrated for sensing various analytes, measuring pH, and detecting metal ions and biological species in environmental applications by utilizing color and/or fluorescence intensities. Fluorescent chemosensors offer several crucial advantages over low-molecular-weight compounds. For instance, the chemical signals that are converted into electronic or optical signals when these conjugated polymers bind with an analyte can be transformed and enhanced effectively. During the formation of fluorescent ligand-metal ion complexes, intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) and coordination interactions cause the polymer backbone to undergo changes in electron charge distribution and molecular conformation. Additionally, the fluorophore of a conjugated polymer used as a fluorescent chemosensor is always bonded at the conjugated backbone, along which the excitons can diffuse easily, resulting in more marked and defined changes in the fluorescence intensity and bathochromic or hypsochromic shifts of the fluorescence wavelengths of these polymers.

This Special Issue covers the synthesis, characterization, functionalization, and chemosensory properties of polymers and hybrid organic-inorganic polymer composites. The aim of this Special Issue is to provide an update on recent research and knowledge in this field, and to broaden our perspectives on polymers used in chemosensing for environmental and medical applications.

Prof. Dr. Po-Chih Yang
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.