The reversible boronic acid-diol interaction empowers boronic acid receptors' saccharide binding capacities, rendering them a class of lectin mimetic, termed "boronlectins". Boronic acids follow lectin functions not just in being able to bind saccharides, but in multivalent saccharide binding that enhances both affinity and selectivity. For almost a decade, efforts have been made to achieve and improve selectivity for given saccharide targets, most notably glucose, by using properly positioned boronic acids, offering multivalent interactions. Incorporation of several boronic acid groups into a covalent framework or non-covalent assembly of boronic acid are two general methods used to create such smart sensors, of which the latter resembles lectin oligomerisation that affords multivalent saccharide-binding architectures. In this review, we discuss supramolecular selective sensing of saccharides by using simple boronic acids in their aggregate forms, after a brief survey of the general aspects of boronic acid-based saccharide sensing.

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Synthetic anion transporters can facilitate H + transport via deprotonation, or OH À transport via hydrogen bonding to OH À , thus allowing dissipation of transmembrane pH gradients, an undesired side-effect for biomedical applications as Cl À ionophores. To address this limitation, Gale and colleagues have developed two anionophores that show high Cl À > H + /OH À selectivity. Preliminary cellular studies support the biological relevance of the selectivity.

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