The syntheses of several saturated, pyrene-containing, metal-chelating lipids are described. These lipids are capable of strongly binding to transition metal ions employing the metal- chelating headgroup. The excimer-to-monomer ratio of the pyrene groups changes with addition of cupric ions to the liposomes. Three other transition metal ions (Zn2+, Ni2+, and Hg2+) did not cause any appreciable changes in the excimer-to-monomer ratio.
[Menger, F. M.; Wood, M. G.; Richardson, S.; Zhou, Q.; Elrington, A. R.; Sherrod, M. J. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 1988 , vol. 110, # 20 p. 6797 - 6803]