Fluorescent Sensing of Chirality

Abstract

Because of the intrinsic chirality of biological systems, enantiomers of chiral molecules show very different interactions with biological systems. Thus, analyses of the chirality of organic molecules are very important in areas such as pharmaceutical industry, research laboratories of organic chemists, agrochemicals and food industry. Using fluorescence in analysis has a number of advantages including high sensitivity and selectivity, usage of small amount of compounds, less expensive equipment, real-time analysis, and suitable for remote, onsite, continuous and high-throughput applications. Thus, significant progresses have been made in the development of fluorescent sensors for the recognition of chiral compounds and a number of fluorescent sensors have been developed for the enantioselective recognition of various types of chiral substrates. These fluorescent sensors are potentially useful for rapid assay of chiral molecules, high-throughput screening of asymmetrical reactions and online monitoring of chiral transformations. This article mainly describes the use of organic molecular sensors for the enantioselective fluorescent recognition of various chiral organic compounds. The organic fluorescent sensors are classified according to their primary binding modes with chiral substrates. In each session of the binding modes, the materials are further categorized based on the type of the chiral substrates being recognized. Additional sessions on the use of nanomaterials and biosensors in the fluorescence-based chiral recognition are also included.