Smart polymer chemosensors: signal-amplification systems with allosterism

Abstract

Supramolecular chemical sensing with chemosensors has attracted considerable attention over the past two decades, and today, its technology has been used for the detection of explosives, environmentally hazardous vapors, and important biorelated molecules to the human body. Of particular, the use of polymers is indispensable for the development of chemosensors for applications since inventive polymers are capable of amplifying signals and/or binding information upon complexation of an analyte with a chemosensor. Naturally, such amplification enables us to sense a very small amount of target analytes in a complex mixture. Very recently, the author proposed a novel amplification-sensing mechanism, which is called “supramolecular allosteric signal-amplification sensing” (SASS), and has expanded to various systems that are difficult to detect by using common nonamplification or “the lock-and-key concept”-based chemosensors. In this review, the author wants to present the concept and strategy of the SASS and the related examples. The methodology proposed and the results obtained herein will further encourage the research community in the fields of polymer, supramolecular, and analytical chemistry. The recent advances of the novel signal-amplification method, “supramolecular allosteric signal-amplification sensing” (SASS), are shown and summarized in this review. The SASS using polymers, polythiophenes and glucans introduced herein will be expandable to further smart polymeric systems, i.e., dynamic supramolecular assemblies.