Circular Dichroism Sensing: Strategies and Applications

Abstract

The analysis of the absolute configuration, enantiomeric composition, and concentration of chiral compounds are frequently encountered tasks across the chemical and health sciences. Chiroptical sensing methods can streamline this work and allow high‐throughput screening with remarkable reduction of operational time and cost. During the last few years, significant methodological advances with innovative chirality sensing systems, the use of computer‐generated calibration curves, machine learning assistance, and chemometric data processing, to name a few, have emerged and are now matched with commercially available multi‐well plate CD readers. These developments have reframed the chirality sensing space and provide new opportunities that are of interest to a large group of chemists. This review will discuss chirality sensing strategies and applications with representative small‐molecule CD sensors. Emphasis will be given to important milestones and recent advances that accelerate chiral compound analysis by outperforming traditional methods, conquer new directions, and pioneering efforts that lie at the forefront of chiroptical high‐throughput screening developments. The goal is to provide the reader with a thorough understanding of the current state and a perspective of future directions of this rapidly emerging field.