A dual-functional sensor for electrochemical discrimination and detection of glucose enantiomers based on chiral Au/Co3O4 nanoclusters

Since d -glucose (D-Glu) plays significant roles in energy generation and metabolite production while l -glucose (L-Glu) cannot be metabolized, discrimination and detection of Glu enantiomers is of great importance for people's daily life. Herein, chiral Au/Co 3 O 4 nanoclusters are synthesized by using L-cysteine (L-Cys) as the chiral inducer and Au 3+ as the self-assembly inducer. The introduction of Au can also enhance the conductivity of the chiral Au/Co 3 O 4 . The resulting L-Au/Co 3 O 4 nanoclusters show higher affinity toward L-Glu due to the consistent chirality of L-Au/Co 3 O 4 nanoclusters and L-Glu, which can be used for the electrochemical discrimination and detection of Glu enantiomers. Accordingly, the D-Au/Co 3 O 4 nanoclusters synthesized by using D-Cys as the chiral inducer show higher affinity toward D-Glu, and thus they can also be used for the electrochemical discrimination and detection of Glu enantiomers. The chiral Au/Co 3 O 4 exhibits high selectivity, reproducibility and stability when used for the discrimination of Glu enantiomers. Although the linear range is relatively narrow (0.05–1.5 mM), both chiral discrimination and electrochemical detection can be achieved by the proposed dual-functional sensor, which is quite different from the common Glu sensors.