Colorimetric Visualization of Chirality: From Molecular Sensors to Hierarchical Extension

The optical sensing of chirality is widely used in many fields, such as pharmaceuticals, agriculture, food, and environmental materials. In this context, the color-based cascade amplification of chirality, coupled with chiral recognition for analytes, provides a low-cost and straightforward detection method that avoids the use of expensive and sophisticated instrumentation. However, the realization of chiral detection using this approach is still challenging because the construction of a three-dimensional optical recognition site is required to easily discern differences in chirality. Therefore, considerable efforts have been dedicated to developing a hierarchical approach based on molecular organization to provide colorimetric sensors for chirality detection. This review covers function-integrated molecular sensors with colorimetric responsive sites based on absorption, fluorescence, and aggregation-induced emission enabled by molecular organization. In line with the hierarchical approach, data-driven chemometrics is a useful method for quantitative and accurate chiral pattern recognition. Finally, colorimetric nanomaterials are discussed, focusing on sensing platforms using noble-metal nanoparticles, carbon dots, and photonic crystal gels.