Citation: Longming Chen, Chengyang Tian, Kaili Jiang, Ziliang Zhang, Di Gao, Shujie Lin, Junyi Chen, Chunju Li, Qingbin Meng. Extended biphenarene-based sensor array for discriminating fentanyl analogs in complex systems[J]. Chinese Chemical Letters, ;2026, 37(7): 111961. doi: 10.1016/j.cclet.2025.111961 shu

Extended biphenarene-based sensor array for discriminating fentanyl analogs in complex systems

Longming Chen ^{a, 1} ,
Chengyang Tian ^{a, 1} ,
Kaili Jiang ^a ,
Ziliang Zhang ^a ,
Di Gao ^a ,
Shujie Lin ^a ,
Junyi Chen ^{a, b, *,} ,
Chunju Li ^{b, *,} ,
Qingbin Meng ^{a, *,}

a.
State Key Laboratory of National Security Specially Needed Medicines, Beijing Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Beijing 100850, China
b.
Key Laboratory of Inorganic-Organic Hybrid Functional Material Chemistry, Ministry of Education, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Structure and Performance for Functional Molecules, College of Chemistry, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, China

jychen_msc@yeah.net

cjli@shu.edu.cn

nankaimqb@sina.com

Received Date: 16 April 2025
Revised Date: 30 September 2025
Accepted Date: 13 October 2025
Available Online: 14 October 2025

Figures(5)

The fentanyl (Fen) analogs-related drug crisis is a global focus that has badly affected social stability. In view of multitudinous overdose deaths, there is a great need for a portable and sensitive analytical approach that can quickly discriminate these dangerous recreational substances. Herein, an extended biphenarene-based fluorescence displacement sensor assay was constructed by integrating two reporter pairs, where terphen[3]arene sulfate and quaterphen[3]arene sulfate act as receptors, and rhodamine 123 acts as the optimal indicator. The formed supramolecular assay was able to completely classify four analogs, including Fen, 3-methylfentanyl, sufentanil and remifentanil in aqueous phosphate buffered saline, artificial urine, mouse plasma, or even real urine sample from model mice. Moreover, mixed samples containing different proportions of cocaine, heroin and ketamine could also be discriminated with 100% accuracy.
- Extended biphenarene,
- Indicator displacement array,
- Sensor array,
- Liner discriminant analysis,
- Fentanyl analogs
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