An Enantioselective e-Nose: An array of Nanoporous Homochiral MOF Films for Stereospecific Sensing of Chiral Odors

Chirality is essential in nature and often pivotal for biological information transfer, for example, via odor messenger molecules. While the human nose can distinguish the enantiomers of many chiral odors, the technical realization by an artificial sensor or an electronic nose, e-nose, remains a challenge. Herein, we present an array of six sensors coated with nanoporous metal-organic framework (MOF) films of different homochiral and achiral structures, working as an enantioselective e-nose. While the achiral-MOF-film sensors show identical responses for both isomers of one chiral odor molecule, the responses of the homochiral MOF films differ for different enantiomers. By machine learning algorithms, the combined array data allow the stereoselective identification of all compounds, here tested for five pairs of chiral odor molecules. We foresee the chiral-MOF-e-nose, able to enantioselectively detect and discriminate chiral odors, to be a powerful approach towards advanced odor sensing.

Automated summary

Chirality plays a crucial role in nature, especially in biological information transfer through odor messenger molecules. A sensor array coated with metal-organic framework (MOF) films of different homochiral and achiral structures has been developed to selectively identify and discriminate chiral odor molecules, demonstrating the potential of chiral-MOF e-nose for advanced odor sensing.