Polymer-based supramolecular sensing and application to chiral photochemistry

Supramolecular sensing using polymers is of particular significance not only for fundamental science but also for a number of practical diagnostic applications because, upon interaction with target analytes, polymers are capable of amplifying the binding events and thus greatly enhance the signal gain. Hence, we proposed the construction of supramolecular sensors based on chiral functional polymers, such as synthetic conjugated polymers and modified polysaccharides, which are responsive to biologically important chiral materials and saccharides. The present strategy using polymer hosts that behave very differently from those commonly employed in conventional chemosensors is based on the chirality or molecular information propagation and amplification in the polymer chains. By exploiting the knowledge and techniques obtained from the polymer-based supramolecular sensing of bio-related materials, we have expanded the research to photochemical asymmetric synthesis, or 'photochirogenesis,' which provides ecologically benign yet versatile routes to optically active compounds via electronically excited states and is also one of the most attractive and challenging topics in current chemistry. In this review, the author highlights polymer-based supramolecular sensing and application to photochirogenesis with recent examples.