{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,5]],"date-time":"2026-09-05T05:17:14Z","timestamp":1788585434160,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":27,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,3]],"date-time":"2026-09-03T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788393600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["52103345"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["52103345"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["52103345"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["52103345"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/01h0zpd94","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Shanghai Frontiers Science Center of Biomimetic Catalysis"},{"name":"Joint International Research Laboratory of Resource Chemistry of the Ministry of Education"},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100019056","name":"Shanghai Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Functional Materials","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100019056","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Biosensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Rapid identification of free thiols is essential in pharmaceutical quality control and food safety. Herein, we demonstrate the sensing concept of \u201ctwo signals from one event\u201d by exploiting the intrinsic dual functionality of selenium (Se) nanomaterials to construct a signal-on, dual-mode sensing platform for free thiols. The single event is thiol-triggered seeded growth: free thiols interact with L-cysteine-modified Se seeds, driving seed fusion and crystallization into chiral trigonal Se structures. This same event yields two readouts simultaneously: a colorimetric response arising from particle size enlargement (UV-Vis red-shift) and a turn-on circular dichroism (CD) signal from long-range chiral ordering. The method achieves a detection threshold of 10 \u03bcmol\/L for various free thiols and can be completed within 60 min from seed preparation to signal readout without complex instrumentation. It serves as a general indicator of total free thiols rather than distinguishing individual thiol species. Above the threshold, concentration-dependent color deepening and spectral redshifts provide semi-quantitative estimation of the concentration range. Its practicality was validated by detecting D-penicillamine in commercial tablets. This strategy offers an approach for on-site free thiol screening and highlights the potential of chiral inorganic nanomaterials in multi-mode sensing via chiral transfer and amplification.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/bios16090493","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,3]],"date-time":"2026-09-03T16:21:21Z","timestamp":1788452481000},"page":"493","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Two Signals from One Event: Exploiting Intrinsic Dual-Functional Selenium Nanomaterials for Signal-On Chiroptical and Colorimetric Sensing of Free Thiols"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Jiayang","family":"Gao","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Food Science and Technology, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai 201306, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"validation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-original-draft","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3106-670X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Xinling","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The Education Ministry Key Lab of Resource Chemistry, Shanghai Frontiers Science Center of Biomimetic Catalysis, College of Chemistry and Materials Science, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai 200234, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-original-draft","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"supervision","vocabulary":"credit"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,3]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"217828","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ccr.2026.217828","article-title":"Design strategy and progress of fluorescence probes for selective sensing and imaging of biological thiols","volume":"559","author":"Yang","year":"2026","journal-title":"Coord. 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