2014 Volume 25 Issue 3 Pages 52-64
Sugars are essential biological molecules for metabolism, nutrition and cell structure, and they play vital roles in regulating birth, differentiation and immunity. Thus, it is important to develop methods for sugar sensing in aqueous solution. In this paper, the development of analytical reagent for sugar sensing based on esterization affinity of phenylboronic acids with cis-diol moiety in sugar molecule, has been reviewed by dividing into two design concepts of (1) metal-complex sensor in which phenylboronic acid was introduced to bis(β-diketonato)ruthenium complex and (2) phenylboronic-acid fluorescent probe and azoprobe complexes with cyclodextrin (CyD). Also, the design and evaluation of (3) selective sugar recognition by supramolecular CyD gel using soft molecular template effect and (4) azoprobe possessing multipoint binding sites for dopamine recognition, have been summarized.
