Sensing approaches for the discrimination of small molecules and multivalent analytes

Differential arrays, composed of receptors that are capable of generating unique patterns of responses, have been shown to be useful for discrimination of molecular analytes. Herein, differential arrays have been developed and utilized for the discrimination of small molecule and multivalent biological analytes using cross-reactive receptors. A variety of carboxylate-binding guanidinium-based receptors were tested for their ability to discriminate carboxylate enantiomers. Lanthanide complexes showed the most promising enantiodifferentiation. A dynamic receptor for multivalent biological analytes was developed using self-assembling components designed to target cancer cell lines in a cross-reactive manner. Using this differential array, cancer cell lines of different tissue origin were classified using principal component analysis. The receptors in the array responded to targets as hypothesized but also behaved in a cross-reactive manner that allowed for analyte differentiation. The classification response of the array was reproducible. Boronic acid receptors and receptor arrays were also developed for discrimination of cell surface glycans. In this work, the success of cross-reactive receptors with designed components in differential sensing for small molecules as well as complex multivalent analytes is demonstrated.