Dear Colleagues,

Selectivity is a key criterion for a successful analysis method. When it comes to chirality, another special kind of selectivity, namely chiral selectivity is urgently required to discriminate a pair of molecules (known as enantiomers) with the same molecular formula but showing a different spatial arrangement of atoms. Enantiomer selectivity is widely found from molecular- to macro-scale. Particularly, homochirality in life is a prerequisite for many biochemical processes and drug therapy. Within this context, the chiral detection of biomolecules is of great importance. However, enantiomer-selective analysis is challenging due to the many similarities between enantiomers.

To design chiral probes, two points are important: the first one is to employ a suitable chiral selector allowing enantio-differential interactions with target enantiomers, and the second one is to choose fitted instruments for sensitively detecting the signals corresponding to the enantio differences above. Roughly speaking, chiral probes may be classed into three categories: 1) molecular probes capable of forming strong and irreversible bonds with the target enantiomer; 2) chemo-probes showing enantiomer-preferred non-covalent interactions with analytes; 3) nanoprobes with the combination of molecular-/chemo-selectors and the specific properties of nanomaterials. In the past decade, the advance in these chiral sensors has not only improved the detection performance of traditional chiral analysis methods but also prompted the chirality-related applications of many non-chiral analysis techniques.

In particular, with the extension of the chirality concept from organic chemistry to nanoscience, many emerging chiral nanomaterials have been reported, including plasmonic metals, semiconductors, silica, nanocarbon, metal–organic framework (MOF), covalent–organic framework (COF), perovskite, and 2D materials. These nano-objects can play multiple roles in chiral sensors. For example, plasmonic metallic nanostructures not only show circular dichroism (CD) signals in the visible light range but also enhance the CD signals of organic molecules. More importantly, combined with the unique optical/electronic/magnetic properties and crystal-/nanostructures of nanomaterials, many analysis techniques (e.g., fluorescence, electrochemical measurements, surface-enhanced Raman scattering, electrochemiluminescence, terahertz spectroscopy, and surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy) are also applied to chirality detection, which greatly enriches the analysis toolbox for probe chirality-related issues.

Therefore, this Special Issue aims to highlight and overview different aspects of chiral nano-/chemo-/molecular-probes, including: the design and fabrication of chiral probes for detecting chiral biomolecules, development of new chiral analysis techniques, exploring unknown bio-functions and metabolism of chiral molecules, chiral interactions at nano-bio interfaces, and enantioselectivity mechanism in chemical reactions.

Many types of papers, including reviews, experimental or theoretical full papers, and short communications are welcome for consideration.

Prof. Dr. Haifeng Yang
Dr. Xinling Liu
Guest Editors

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• chiral sensors
• chiral nanomaterials
• molecular probes
• chemosensors
• nanoprobes