In
the past, various chiral isomers accompanied by electroactive
units have been distinguished using electrochemical techniques, which
can produce electrochemical signals by themselves. However, it is
still difficult to use an electrochemical technique to detect nonelectroactive
samples. To address this bottleneck, an electroactive chiral polymer
(S,S)-p-CVB-Fc
that contains one redox-active ferrocene unit was designed and synthesized
in this study. The electroactive polymer can give electrochemical
signals as an alternative to the tested chiral samples, regardless
of whether the isomers have electroactive units. Then, it was fixed
on the surface of a glassy carbon electrode as an electrochemical
chiral sensor. When nonelectroactive amino acids including proline,
threonine, and alanine were examined by the sensor, clear discrimination
in the response of peak current could be observed toward l- and d-isomers at pH 6.5. The peak current ratios (I
L/I
D) for proline
and alanine were 1.47 and 1.48, respectively. In contrast, for threonine,
the d-isomer exhibited a higher peak current than the l -isomer with a ratio of 2.59. In summary, the results ensure
that the current work can enlarge the testing scope of chiral samples
in the field of chiral electroanalysis using an electroactive sensor.