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Water quality monitoring is essential for identifying risks to environmental and human health. Nitrate monitoring is of particular importance, as its anthropogenic point and nonpoint sources are common globally and have deleterious effects on water quality and usability as well as aquatic ecosystem health. Standard methods for assessing nitrate concentrations in water generally involve laboratory techniques, as methods available for field testing face significant tradeoffs between cost, precision, and portability. Given its relatively ubiquitous nature and the widespread regulation of nitrate pollution, it is a prime target for sensor development. The growing field of nanomaterials (e.g., nanoparticles, nanotubes, and 2-dimensional materials) offers the potential to eliminate these tradeoffs through a new generation of field-ready nitrate sensors. However, transitioning nano-sensors from the lab to the field remains challenging. In this perspective we examine the challenges of lab-to-field transition of nano-sensors for nitrate, highlighting the importance of a user-centered design approach under the framework of FOCUS (form factor, operational robustness, cost, user interface, and sensitivity). 

Abstract New methods for the synthesis of 1,3-diaryltriazenes and azo dyes from aryl amines are reported. Both methods involve the formation of aryl diazonium intermediates via the transnitrosation of aryl amines with N-nitrososulfonamides. Each two-step transformation may be performed in one reaction vessel at room temperature with no precautions taken to exclude air or moisture. Several triazene and azo dye structures are reported here for the first time, demonstrating the utility of operating the two-step reaction sequence under mild conditions. 

Benzoyl pyrazinium salts are optically active in the visible region. Photophysical properties depend on chemical structure, concentration, and energy of photoexcitation. They represent a promising class of molecules with tunable emission properties. 

We report a new method for regioselective aromatic bromination using lactic acid derivatives as halogen bond acceptors with N-bromosuccinimide (NBS). Several structural analogues of lactic acid affect the efficiency of aromatic brominations, presumably via Lewis acid/base halogen-bonding interactions. Rate comparisons of aromatic brominations demonstrate the reactivity enhancement available via catalytic additives capable of halogen bonding. Computational results demonstrate that Lewis basic additives interact with NBS to increase the electropositive character of bromine prior to electrophilic transfer. An optimized procedure using catalytic mandelic acid under aqueous conditions at room temperature was developed to promote aromatic bromination on a variety of arene substrates with complete regioselectivity.