Resumen: In this work we demonstrate the ability of a multifaceted N, N'-disubstituted urea to selectively recognize fluoride anion (F-) among other halides. This additional function is now added to its already reported organocatalytic and organogelator properties. The signaling mechanism relies on the formation of a charge-transfer (CT) complex between the urea-based sensor and F- in the ground state with a high association constant as demonstrated by absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy. The nature of the hydrogen bonding interaction between the sensor and F- was established by 1H-NMR studies and theoretical calculations. Moreover, the recovery of the sensor was achieved by addition of methanol. Idioma: Inglés DOI: 10.3390/s16050658 Año: 2016 Publicado en: Sensors (Switzerland) 16, 5 (2016), 658 [12 pp] ISSN: 1424-8220 Factor impacto JCR: 2.677 (2016) Categ. JCR: INSTRUMENTS & INSTRUMENTATION rank: 10 / 58 = 0.172 (2016) - Q1 - T1 Categ. JCR: CHEMISTRY, ANALYTICAL rank: 25 / 76 = 0.329 (2016) - Q2 - T1 Categ. JCR: ELECTROCHEMISTRY rank: 12 / 29 = 0.414 (2016) - Q2 - T2 Factor impacto SCIMAGO: 0.623 - Electrical and Electronic Engineering (Q1) - Analytical Chemistry (Q2) - Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics (Q2) - Medicine (miscellaneous) (Q2) - Instrumentation (Q2) - Biochemistry (Q3)