Noncovalent chirality sensing ensembles for the detection and reaction monitoring of amino acids, peptides, proteins, and aromatic drugs.

Ternary complexes between the macrocyclic host cucurbit[8]uril, dicationic dyes, and chiral aromatic analytes afford strong induced circular dichroism (ICD) signals in the near-UV and visible regions. This allows for chirality sensing and peptide-sequence recognition in water at low micromolar analyte concentrations. The reversible and noncovalent mode of binding ensures an immediate response to concentration changes, which allows the real-time monitoring of chemical reactions. The introduced supramolecular method is likely to find applications in bioanalytical chemistry, especially enzyme assays, for drug-related analytical applications, and for continuous monitoring of enantioselective reactions, particularly asymmetric catalysis.