Fluorescent carbon quantum dots (CDs) are synthesized and employed as fluorescent nanochemosensors for selective detection of amino acids. A detailed investigation of excitation–emission maps revealed that the fluorescence properties of CDs are intensely and strongly influenced by the interaction at the surface with different amino acids. The discrimination capability was demonstrated by tensor rank decomposition of the differences induced by the surface reaction in the excitation–emission maps and by means of a common machine learning approach based on artificial neural networks.

A terpyridine-functionalized perylene bisimide chromophore (TPBI) has been used as a building block in the stepwise, layer-by-layer fabrication of self-assembled Fe–TPBI multilayers on gold, with the assembled supramolecular chains oriented approximately perpendicular to the gold surface. Time-resolved spectroscopy measurements seem to indicate that the energy absorbed by the multilayer is promptly dissipated to the gold surface by ultrafast processes.

We demonstrate the potential of an innovative technique, pulsed radiofrequency glow discharge time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry, for the molecular depth profiling of polymer materials. The technique benefits from the presence, in the afterglow of the pulsed glow discharge, of fragment ions that can be related to the structures of the polymers under study. Thin films of different polymers (PMMA, PET, PAMS, PS) were successfully profiled with retention of molecular information along the profile. Multilayered structures of the above polymers were also profiled, and it was possible to discriminate among layers having similar elemental composition but different polymer structure. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.