LAUSR

ABSTRACT Macrocyclic molecules possess preorganised cavities that inherently enable them to bind volatile small molecules that are complementary in size and shape. Integrating such macrocyclic receptors with an electrical signal transductor represents a promising strategy to fabricate electrical vapour sensors with high selectivity and sensitivity. The application of calixarenes, cyclodextrins, porphyrins, and deep cavitands for this application have been investigated. The electrical vapour sensor devices based on these macrocycles demonstrated promising performance towards specific analytes. Some highly selective examples can distinguish isomeric analyte molecules with only minute structural differences. Besides selectivity, certain sensors also demonstrated ppb level sensitivity. This review highlights the progress in electrical vapour sensing using macrocyclic molecular receptors, along with outlook to the future directions for the field. Graphical Abstract