Colorful Warning: Selective, sensitive CO detection with a rhodium complex
Tuesday, July 6, 2010 - 06:21
in Physics & Chemistry
(PhysOrg.com) -- Carbon monoxide is an insidious poison: it is colorless, odorless, and toxic at low concentrations. It is usually produced by combustion engines or incomplete combustion in gas furnaces or wood-burning fireplaces. Spanish researchers working with Ramon Martinez-Manez have now developed a sensitive and selective detector that reliably detects CO in air. As the scientists from the IDM Research Institute at the Polytechnic University of Valencia report in the journal Angewandte Chemie, their system involves a special rhodium complex that distinctly changes color in the presence of CO.