Two anthracene based receptors ADAMN and ANOPD were synthesized and characterized. The response of both towards F- ion has been monitored by UV-Vis and H-1 NMR spectroscopy as well as naked eye color change. Interestingly, change in acceptor unit endows ADAMN to behave as a INHIBIT logic gate with F- and H+ as inputs whereas ANOPD remains totally silent towards F-. The reason for this differential behavior has been explored by DFT calculations. The practical utility of the logic gate response of ADAMN was explored by successful paper strip experiment. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.