Special Issue "Chiral Sensing Triggered by Plasmonic Metals"

Dear Colleagues,

Molecular chirality plays a key role in determining the functions of biomolecules, pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals. Thus, chirality detection capable of distinguishing enantiomers and quantifying trace concentrations of chiral molecules is urgently needed. Conventional chiral analysis tools, including circular dichroism (CD), Raman optical activity (ROA), chromatography and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), still suffer some drawbacks, such as low sensitivity, high equipment costs and inefficiency in on site and in vivo analysis.

Due to their unique surface plasmonic resonance properties, plasmonic metals are able to tailor the absorptivity, scattering and fluorescence of molecules, which enables the development of detection methods with high sensitivity. In particular, chirality and chiroptical effects in plasmonic nano-/microstructures have gained increasing attention in recent years, as they can overcome the shortcomings of traditional chiroptical spectroscopies. For example, with the assistance of plasmonic nanomaterials and metamaterials, chiral light–matter interactions can be enhanced to amplify CD and ROA signals (referred to as surface-enhanced circular dichroism and Raman optical activity in some reports). In addition, metallic plasmonic nanostructures themselves can generate diverse CD signals in a spectral range from near-ultraviolet to near-infrared, and these signals are valuable for chiral detection as a supplement to molecular chiroptical signals.

Moreover, manipulation of the coupling between plasomonic materials and chiral molecules can result in strong enantiomer-selective optical or electrochemical responses, allowing chiral sensing to be performed even with nontraditional chiral analysis tools, including Raman spectroscopy, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, colorimetric assay, fluorescence spectroscopy and electrochemical analysis. Consequently, novel chiral sensors are anticipated to surpass the capabilities of conventional chiral analysis strategies, enabling trace determination, bio-imaging and portable / real-time detection of various chiral molecules.

Accompanying these recent advances in artificial chiral plasmonic nanostructures, plasmonics-triggered chiral sensing represents an exciting field for potential breakthroughs in analytical science and technologies. Therefore, this Special Issue will highlight and present an overview of different aspects of plasmonic-metal-

assisted chiral detection, from the design and fabrication of plasmonic metallic materials/devices with promising potential in chiral biomarker and pesticide detection/ cosmetics residues to enantioselectivity mechanisms in matter–matter or light–matter interactions associated with chemical reactions, behaviors of cells and nanobio interfaces.

Reviews, full-length experimental or theoretical papers and short communications, comments and other types of papers will all be considered.

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

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• chiral sensors
• plasmonic metals
• circular dichroism
• Raman spectroscopy
• surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy
• colorimetric assay
• electrochemical sensors