Chiral Mono Boronic Acid As Fluorescent Enantioselective Sensor for Mono α-Hydroxyl Carboxylic Acids

Pyrene-Appended Boronic Acids on Graphene Foam Electrodes Provide Quantum Capacitance-Based Molecular Sensors for Lactate

Molecular recognition and sensing can be coupled to interfacial capacitance changes on graphene foam surfaces linked to double layer effects and coupled to enhanced quantum capacitance. 3D graphene foam film electrodes (Gii-Sens; thickness approximately 40 μm; roughness factor approximately 100) immersed in aqueous buffer media exhibit an order of magnitude jump in electrochemical capacitance upon adsorption of a charged molecular receptor based on pyrene-appended boronic acids (here, 4-borono-1-(pyren-2-ylmethyl)pyridin-1-ium bromide, or abbreviated T1). This pyrene-appended pyridinium boronic acid receptor is employed here as a molecular receptor for lactate. In the presence of lactate and at pH 4.0 (after pH optimization), the electrochemical capacitance (determined by impedance spectroscopy) doubles again. Lactic acid binding is expressed with a Hillian binding constant (Klactate = 75 mol-1 dm3 and α = 0.8 in aqueous buffer, Klactate = 460 mol-1 dm3 and α = 0.8 in artificial sweat, and Klactate = 340 mol-1 dm3 and α = 0.65 in human serum). The result is a selective molecular probe response for lactic acid with LoD = 1.3, 1.4, and 1.8 mM in aqueous buffer media (pH 4.0), in artificial sweat (adjusted to pH 4.7), and in human serum (pH adjusted to 4.0), respectively. The role of the pyrene-appended boronic acid is discussed based on the double layer structure and quantum capacitance changes. In the future, this new type of molecular capacitance sensor could provide selective enzyme-free analysis without analyte consumption for a wider range of analytes and complex environments.

Molecular Level Sucrose Quantification: A Critical Review

Sucrose is a primary metabolite in plants, a source of energy, a source of carbon atoms for growth and development, and a regulator of biochemical processes. Most of the traditional analytical chemistry methods for sucrose quantification in plants require sample treatment (with consequent tissue destruction) and complex facilities, that do not allow real-time sucrose quantification at ultra-low concentrations (nM to pM range) under in vivo conditions, limiting our understanding of sucrose roles in plant physiology across different plant tissues and cellular compartments. Some of the above-mentioned problems may be circumvented with the use of bio-compatible ligands for molecular recognition of sucrose. Nevertheless, problems such as the signal-noise ratio, stability, and selectivity are some of the main challenges limiting the use of molecular recognition methods for the in vivo quantification of sucrose. In this review, we provide a critical analysis of the existing analytical chemistry tools, biosensors, and synthetic ligands, for sucrose quantification and discuss the most promising paths to improve upon its limits of detection. Our goal is to highlight the criteria design need for real-time, in vivo, highly sensitive and selective sucrose sensing capabilities to enable further our understanding of living organisms, the development of new plant breeding strategies for increased crop productivity and sustainability, and ultimately to contribute to the overarching need for food security.

Turn-On Fluorescence Enantioselective Sensing of Hydroxyl Carboxylic Enantiomers by Metal-Organic Framework Nanosheets with a Homochiral Tetracarboxylate of Cyclohexane Diamide

Two-dimensional (2D) metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have attracted growing interest due to excellent performance in gas separation, energy conversion and storage, catalysis, and sensing, but their homochirality and exfoliation as well as related enantioselective catalysis and sensing remain a stage of pending exploration owing to the scarcity of homochiral MOFs and intrinsic aggregation of nanosheets. Herein, a homochiral 2D MOF (HMOF-3) with polymeric chirality, good thermostability, and solvent stability is designed and constructed by a homochiral organic ligand 5,5'-((1R,2R)-cyclohexane dicarbonyl bis(azanediyl)) diisophthalic acid (R,R-CHCAIP), a ditopic coligand 4,4'-bipyridine, and Zn salts. Remarkably, HMOF-3 can be exfoliated via solvent-assisted sonication to achieve 2D HMOF-3 nanosheets (HMOF-3-NS), which exhibit a sensitive turn-on effect with the fluorescence enhancement up to 63.5 times in the presence of R/S-mandelic acid, d/l-tartaric acid, d/l-lactic acid, d/l-alanine, and d/l-tryptophan. More importantly, the high surface area, polymeric chirality environment, and highly accessible functional sites on the surface of HMOF-3 nanosheets enable close contact with probed enantiomers, leading to highly enantioselective and sensitive sensing. The turn-on mechanism of host-guest-assisted electronic transfer is confirmed by DFT calculation and the relative experiment. This work highlights the promise of homochiral 2D MOF nanosheets for enantioselective sensing applications.

An ionic-based carbon dot for enantioselective discrimination of nonaromatic amino alcohols

Here, ionized chiral carbon dots, (S,S)-C-dots-1 (λex = 430 nm, λem = 480 nm), were synthesized via a facile route with relatively high quantum yield (∼24.4%) and used as a fluorescent chiral sensor. One of the advantages of the synthetic process is that it avoids the loss of the chiral center. That is, the chiral bromo compound can directly form an ionic pair with the pyridyl group, which is derived from the amine precursor in the first step. Furthermore, (S,S)-C-dots-1 shows clear discrimination toward different configurations of nonaromatic amino alcohols in the presence of Cu(ii). When the (R)-isomer is added to a solution of (S,S)-C-dots-1 + Cu(ii), it shows much higher fluorescent intensity than the (S)-isomer. The values of IR/IS are 2.9 and 2.3 for 2-aminobutan-1-ol and 2-aminopropan-1-ol, respectively. In summary, we believe that this work can expand the synthetic routes and potential applications of functional carbon dots in the field of enantioselective sensing.

Chiral Poly(ionic liquid) with Nonconjugated Backbone as a Fluorescent Enantioselective Sensor for Phenylalaninol and Tryptophan

Here, a novel fluorescent chiral poly(ionic liquid) ( S)-PCIL-4 with nonconjugated backbone is designed and synthesized in the control of micelle through free-radical polymerization, whose fluorescence emission maximum is at λ_em,max = 430 nm. It is observed that polymers with spatially proximate units (phenyl group and pyridinium cation) have photoluminescence through spatial π-π and ion-π interaction. Then, ( S)-PCIL-4 can be served as a fluorescent turn off/on sensor for chiral recognition of phenylalaninol and tryptophan in the presence of Cu(II). For example, when ( S)-PCIL-4-Cu(II) is treated with ( R/ S)-phenylalaninol, it will exhibit different fluorescence responses. Values of the enantiomeric fluorescence difference ratio for phenylalaninol and tryptophan are 1.10 and 1.08, respectively. In brief, we believe that the approach opens up a possible pathway to prepare a variety of fluorescent polymers with nonconjugated backbone and proves to be desirable in further application.

Sugar recognition: designing artificial receptors for applications in biological diagnostics and imaging

At the cellular level, numerous processes ranging from protein folding to disease development are mediated by a sugar-based molecular information system that is much less well known than its DNA- or protein-based counterparts. The subtle structural diversity of such sugar tags nevertheless offers an excellent, if challenging, opportunity to design receptors for the selective recognition of biorelevant sugars. Over the past 40 years, growing interest in the field of sugar recognition has led to the development of several promising artificial receptors, which could soon find widespread use in medical diagnostics and cell imaging.

A new chiral electrochemical sensor for the enantioselective recognition of naproxen enantiomers using l-cysteine self-assembled over gold nanoparticles on a gold electrode

A chiral electrochemical sensor for analyzing the enantiomeric composition of chiral compounds is reported.

Sensing of enantiomeric excess in chiral carboxylic acids

Cinchona-derived fluorescent molecules are used in a cross-reactive sensor array for the sensing of enantiomeric excess (ee) in carboxylate drugs analysis.

l-Amino acid derived pyridinium-based chiral compounds and their efficacy in chiral recognition of lactate

A series ofl-amino acid derived pyridinium-based chiral compounds have been designed and synthesized. Among them, somel-valine derivatives show enantioselective recognition ofd-lactate in fluorescence.

Fluorene-based boronic acids as fluorescent chemosensor for monosaccharides at physiological pH

Two fluorene-based boronic acids, 9,9-dimethyl-9H-fluoren-2-yl-2-boronic acid (1) and 9,9-dimethyl-9H-fluoren-2,7-diyl-2,7-diboronic acid (2), were synthesized and their sensing abilities for detection of D-monosaccharides were investigated by fluorescence at physiological pH. It was found that both boronic acids 1 and 2 have high selectivity and sensitivity for D-fructose with stability constant of 47.2 and 412.9, respectively. The sensor 2 showed a linear response toward D-fructose in the concentration range from 5 × 10(-5) to 10(-1) mol L(-1) with the detection limit of 2 × 10(-5) mol L(-1).

A pair of chiral fluorescent sensors for enantioselective recognition of mandelate in water

A pair of chiral compounds S-1 and R-1 derived from (1S, 2S) or (1R, 2R)-1, 2-diphenylethane-1, 2-diamine were designed and synthesized, the interactions of S-1 and R-1 with mandelate were studied in H2O (0.01 M HEPES buffer, pH=7.4) by fluorescence titration experiments. The sensors S-1 and R-1 were found to present enantioselective fluorescent sensing ability to mandelate. The results indicated that the sensors S-1 and R-1 were very promising to be used as fluorescent sensors in determining the enantiomeric composition of mandelate in H2O.

Ratiometric fluorescence sensing of sugars via a reversible disassembly and assembly of the peptide aggregates mediated by sugars

An amphiphilic dipeptide (1) bearing pyrene and phenylboronic acid was demonstrated as a unique example of a ratiometric sensing system for sugars by reversibly converting the peptide aggregates into the monomer form of the complex with sugars in aqueous solutions.

Exploiting the reversible covalent bonding of boronic acids: recognition, sensing, and assembly

Boronic acids can interact with Lewis bases to generate boronate anions, and they can also bind with diol units to form cyclic boronate esters. Boronic acid based receptor designs originated when Lorand and Edwards used the pH drop observed upon the addition of saccharides to boronic acids to determine their association constants. The inherent acidity of the boronic acid is enhanced when 1,2-, 1,3-, or 1,4-diols react with boronic acids to form cyclic boronic esters (5, 6, or 7 membered rings) in aqueous media, and these interactions form the cornerstone of diol-based receptors used in the construction of sensors and separation systems. In addition, the recognition of saccharides through boronic acid complex (or boronic ester) formation often relies on an interaction between a Lewis acidic boronic acid and a Lewis base (proximal tertiary amine or anion). These properties of boronic acids have led to them being exploited in sensing and separation systems for anions (Lewis bases) and saccharides (diols). The fast and stable bond formation between boronic acids and diols to form boronate esters can serve as the basis for forming reversible molecular assemblies. In spite of the stability of the boronate esters' covalent B-O bonds, their formation is reversible under certain conditions or under the action of certain external stimuli. The reversibility of boronate ester formation and Lewis acid-base interactions has also resulted in the development and use of boronic acids within multicomponent systems. The dynamic covalent functionality of boronic acids with structure-directing potential has led researchers to develop a variety of self-organizing systems including macrocycles, cages, capsules, and polymers. This Account gives an overview of research published about boronic acids over the last 5 years. We hope that this Account will inspire others to continue the work on boronic acids and reversible covalent chemistry.

Self-Assemblies of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes through Tunable Tethering of Pyrenes by Dextrin for Rapidly Chiral Sensing

Pyrene-modified dextrin (Py-Dex) was synthesized via the Schiff base reaction between reducing end of dextrins and 1-aminopyrene, and then self-assemblies of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) were fabricated through the tunable tethering of pyrene to SWNTs by dextrin chains. The Py-Dex-SWNTs assemblies were found to be significantly water-soluble because of the synergistic effect of dextrin chains and pyrene moieties. Py-Dex and Py-Dex-SWNTs were adequately characterized by NMR, UV-vis, fluorescence spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight mass spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. The tethering effect of dextrin toward pyrene moieties was clearly revealed and was found to be tunable by adjusting the length of dextrin chains. The fluorescence of pyrene moieties was sufficiently quenched by SWNTs with the support of dextrin chains. Furthermore, the Py-Dex-SWNTs assemblies were used for chiral selective sensing by introducing cyclodextrins as chiral binding sites. The rapid chiral sensing was successfully tested for different enantiomers.

A new class of fluorescent boronic acids that have extraordinarily high affinities for diols in aqueous solution at physiological pH

The boronic acid group is an important recognition moiety for sensor design. Herein, we report a series of isoquinolinylboronic acids that have extraordinarily high affinities for diol-containing compounds at physiological pH. In addition, 5- and 8-isoquinolinylboronic acids also showed fairly high binding affinities towards D-glucose (K(a)=42 and 46 M(-1), respectively). For the first time, weak but encouraging binding of cis-cyclohexanediol was found for these boronic acids. Such binding was coupled with significant fluorescence changes. Furthermore, 4- and 6-isoquinolinylboronic acids also showed the ability to complex methyl α-D-glucopyranose (K(a)=3 and 2 M(-1), respectively).