Optical Oxygen Sensors: Utilising the Luminescence of Platinum Metals Complexes

Oxygen is a n immensely important chemical species essential for lije. The need to determine levels of oxygen occurs in many diverse fields. In environmental analysis, oxygen measurement provides a n indispensable guide to the overall condition of the ecology and it i s routine practice to monitor oxygen levels continuously in the atmosphere and in water. In medicine, the oxygen levels in the expired air or in the blood of apatient are keyphysiologicalparameters for judging general health. Such parameters should ideally be monitored continuously, which may present problems. Determining oxygen levels in blood requires blood samples which m a y be difficult to take or impossible to take regularly the elderly suffer f rom collapsed veins, while babies may only have 125 cm3 of blood. The measurement of oxygen levels is also essential in industries which utilise metabolising organisms: yeast for brewing and bread making, and the planzs and microbes that are used in modern biotechnology, such as those producing antibiotics and anticancer drugs. Here, the background to oxygenmeasurements is described and work to develop new optical oxygen sensors which utilise the luminescence of plat inum metals complexes is discussed.