School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Queen’s University,
Belfast BT9 5AG, Northern Ireland.
Although the acronym PET stands for several different phrases, in this
instance it stands for photoinduced electron transfer, the life-giving
phenomenon which kick-starts photosynthesis in plants. Getting PET to
compete with the emission of light from molecules (the building blocks
of life) allowed us to establish a general tool by which scientists and
medical practitioners can track key players within living cells and in
the blood of patients.
Many chemistry students discover the flame test for metal ions in high
school. Here, the introduction of a metal salt into a nearly colourless
flame produce a rush of bright colour. While I was helping to care for
my grandmother, her medical doctor told me about the importance of
sodium ions in holding water within the body and how it leads to
congestive heart conditions. ‘Wouldn’t it be useful to have a flame-free
and liquid version of the flame test?’ was a question that I thought
about. After a while, fluorescent PET sensors \cite{Daly_2015,de_Silva_1997,Bissell_1992}
turned out to be a satisfactory answer. My co-workers and I were able to
establish them as general design tools with a modular construction in an
engineering sense \cite{Bissell1992}. Over 350 laboratories have applied
this design tool for their own purposes (Figure \ref{885455}).