Polyurea Dendrimer‐Perylene Self‐Imprinted Nanoshells for Trace Explosive Detection

Polyurea dendrimer‐perylene nanoshells are found to accurately discriminate structurally closely related nitroaromatics. Both studied systems, PURE_G1‐PER₆ and PURE_G4‐PER₄₈, present high sensitivity (detection limits between 5 × 10⁻⁶ and 20 × 10⁻⁶m) and selectivity for 2,4,6‐trinitrotoluene (TNT) collected from a powdered military grenade and picric acid. The selectivity is highly dependent on the dendrimer generation. A conformationally restricted 3D arrangement in PURE_G4‐PER₄₈, which is favored by shell π‐π stacking and core urea‐assisted hydrogen bonding, supports the formation of self‐imprinted channels with molecular recognition for picric acid and TNT in complex mixtures of nitroaromatics.