A highly selective and rapid solvatochromic material for amide solvent detection.

The detection of amide solvents is essential to human health due to their carcinogenicity. A simple, solvatochromic luminescent material is presented for quick and accurate detection of amides. The luminescence color variation from blue to yellow is ascribed to the amide-induced phase transformation from Cs 2 ZnBr 4 :Cu to CsBr:Cu + /Cu 2+ .