Recent advances in recognition, sensing and extraction of phosphates: 2015 onwards

•Recent research works on recognition/sensing/extraction of phosphates are reported.•Developments on efficient/selective phosphate binding by receptors are described.•Phosphate recognition/extraction in pure water/real-world samples are described.•Advancement in biological applications of phosphate recognition are highlighted. Phosphate recognition by synthetic supramolecular receptors has flourished in recent years in many dimensions due to its important roles in various biological and chemical applications. The introduction of various anion binding functionalities on different platforms was the focus of early developments in this area. Recent developments are more directed towards the selective recognition of phosphates over other competing anions under challenging conditions. Recognition of phosphates in 100% water is another current challenging trend due to the high hydration energy of phosphates. Among the various potential applications, biological studies and extraction/removal of phosphates from aqueous media are of great interest, not only to the chemist but also to society in general. The aim of this review is to provide a brief summary of the exciting contemporary research on the development of synthetic receptors for the recognition, sensing, extraction of phosphates, along with the biological applications of phosphate recognition which have emerged in the last five years (2015–to date).