Bile acid-based receptors and their applications in recognition

Ion recognition has attracted great attention in the past decades because of its important role in biology, medicine, environment, and chemistry. The combination of rigidity, curved structure and amphiphilic nature makes bile acids a host system for ion recognition. In addition, the availability of hydroxyl groups in bile acids can be used for further derivatization to develop various ion recognition receptors. The detection of ions is revealed by the binding constant ka value, log approach, and UV-visible or 1H NMR titration, while visual detection is determined by gel-phase transition, colorimetric and fluorescent probes. In this review, we have discussed the bile acid-based receptors and their ion-recognition capability. These bile acid-based systems have the potential for the development of anion transport for biological activity.