The power of dissociation: Development of displacement assays for chemosensing and latent catalytic systems

Disassembly is an essential process in supramolecular chemistry, and its exploitation has resulted in the development of four different displacement assays: (a) indicator-displacement assay (IDA), (b) indicator/catalyst-displacement assay (ICDA), (c) catalytic/indicator-displacement assay (CIDA), and (d) catalyst-displacement assay (CDA). These consist of bimetallic donor–acceptor ensembles (BmDAEs), which incorporate various metallic signal transducers, receptors, inhibitors, catalysts, and pre-catalysts. Applications thereof include pollutant degradation, signal amplification, chemosensing detection, and latent catalysis. This review discusses the use of bimetallic supramolecular systems for the development of catalysts, chemosensors, and chemodosimeters. Copyright © 2020 Royal Society of Chemistry.