Application of chiral materials in electrochemical sensors

Abstract

Chirality is a universal phenomenon in nature and an essential attribute of life systems. Chiral recognition has very important research value in many fields. Amino acids and other chiral molecules are the basic components of human body. Understanding the configuration of chiral molecules is beneficial not only to the development of life science, but also to the development of chiral recognition. Compared with other traditional chiral recognition methods, electrochemical methods have the advantages of rapid detection, simple operation, low price, and high sensitivity, which has been widely concerned. In this review, we present an overview of chiral materials in a view of various chiral selectors, including amino acids and their derivatives, proteins, polysaccharides, chiral ligand exchange compounds, chiral cavity compounds (such as cyclodextrin, cucurbituril, calixarene, crown ether), and chiral ionic liquids, which were applied for the recognition of chiral molecules. Besides the chiral recognition mechanisms, some critical challenges and outlooks in the field of electrochemical chiral sensing interfaces are also discussed. We have reported an overview of chiral materials in various chiral selectors, including amino acids and their derivatives, proteins, polysaccharides, chiral ligand-exchange compounds, chiral cavity, and chiral ionic liquids, which was applied for the recognition of chiral molecules. Besides chiral recognition mechanism, some critical challenges and outlooks are also discussed.