Fluorescent Phthalocyanine Assembly Distinguishes Chiral Isomers of Different Types of Amino Acids and Sugars.

The functions of some natural supramolecular architectures, such as ribosomes, are dependent on the recognition of different types of chiral biomolecules. However, the recognition of different types of chiral molecules (multiobject chiral recognition), such as amino acids and sugars, by independent and identically artificial supramolecular assembly, was rarely achieved. In this article, simple amphiphilic achiral phthalocyanine was found to form supramolecular chiral assemblies with charged water-soluble polymers upon host-guest interactions at the air/water interface. Among these systems, one identical phthalocyanine/poly(l-lysine) assembly not only can distinguish enantiomers of different amino acids but also can recognize several epimers of monose. The chiral recognitions were achieved by comparing either the steady-state fluorescence intensity or fluorescence quenching rate of phthalocyanine/poly(l-lysine) assemblies, before and after interaction with different small chiral molecules. It was demonstrated that the interactions between poly(l-lysine) and different small chiral molecules could change the aggregation of phthalocyanines. And the sensitivity of fluorescence and the excellent multiobject chiral recognition properties of the phthalocyanine/poly(l-lysine) assembly are dependent on the subtle molecular packing mode and the cooperation of different noncovalent interactions.