Employees of the chemical faculty of the Moscow State University (Doctor of Chemistry LM Kustov) together with researchers of the Institute of Organic Chemistry RAS created a porous gel capable of changing its optical properties in the presence of hazardous organic substances.

The synthesized gel can photoluminesce - shine in the visible range under the influence of UV radiation. There are many pores of various diameters in the structure of the substance: from several nanometers to tens of nanometers. When the air is passed through the gel, "guest" organic molecules are perfectly stuck in its pores, the size of which corresponds to the diameter of the voids. Due to the absorption by the "guests" of ultraviolet radiation, the luminescent properties of the gel change.

They found that toluene molecules increased the photoluminescence intensity of the gel by almost 900% - a record increase in the luminescence of the metal-organic gel.

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