Biosensors play a pivotal role in diagnosis through specific receptor‐ligand interactions. However, receptor biomolecules such as proteins have inevitable stability issues due to denaturation. Alternatively, utilization of the small molecules multivalently presented on porous silica particles as receptor components is considered to address the stability issues. A series of receptor components was synthesized using carbohydrates as a chiral scaffold to support multiple functional groups. The synthesized molecules were attached on the porous silica particles. Raman spectral analyses of single silica particles in the presence of nitrobenzene derivatives revealed a specific interaction with 4‐nitrophenol among others using a confocal Raman microscope. Chiral selective recognition was also accomplished for (1S,3S)‐ and (1R,3R)‐2‐amino‐1‐(4‐nitrophenyl)‐1,3‐propanediols. Protected carbohydrate derivatives are shown to be useful as receptor components on porous silica particles.

Invited for this month's cover is the group of Osamu Kanie and co‐workers at Tokai University. The cover picture shows the interaction of an incoming molecule and a receptor surface as the first process of a molecular sensing mechanism. For this, porous silica particles were decorated with protected carbohydrates to create artificial pocket‐like structures on its surface. More information can be found in the Research Article by O. Kanie and co‐workers.

The cover picture shows the interaction of an incoming molecule and a receptor surface as the first process of a molecular sensing mechanism. It is envisioned that creating stable receptor substitutes could become of prime importance in the near future. For this, porous silica particles were decorated with protected carbohydrates to create artificial pocket‐like structures on its surface. The feasibility of the idea was proven by detecting interactions of protected carbohydrates and 4‐nitrobenzene analogs by using a confocal laser Raman spectrometer. More information can be found in the Research Article by O. Kanie and co‐workers.