Construction of a Ru(phen)2L-Asp/ZnO@Zn(L-tar)(4,4'-bipy)/FTO-based electrochemiluminescence chiral sensor and its application for simultaneous recognition of menthol and penicillamine enantiomers.

Ru(phen)3Cl2 exhibits good ECL response, but it lacks chiral sites and cannot effectively recognize chiral compounds. In this study, a uniform array of ZnO nanorods was synthesized via electrochemical deposition, which served as the zinc source for the subsequent in situ growth of chiral Zn(L-tar)(4,4'-bipy) MOF shells on the nanorod surfaces through a solvothermal method. The Ru(phen)2L-Asp complex was then immobilized onto the ZnO@Zn(4,4'-bipy)(L-tar)/FTO substrate to construct a novel Ru(phen)2L-Asp/ZnO@Zn(4,4'-bipy)(L-tar)/FTO electrochemiluminescence (ECL) chiral sensor. This dual-recognition ECL sensor demonstrated excellent capability for simultaneous detection of Pen and Men enantiomers with remarkable quantitative discrimination performance. This strategy represents a significant advancement for developing high-throughput ECL chiral sensing systems.