Hierarchical chirality transfer in the formation of chiral silica fibres with DNA–porphyrin co-templates

Abstract

Screw-like hierarchical chiral fibres were constructed by co-templating two building tectons, DNA and porphyrin, under the bridging effect of cationic organosilane. The chirality transfer from the DNA molecule to meso-tetra(4-sulfonatophenyl)porphyrin assemblies in turn affected the subsequent arrangement of DNA assemblies, thus indicating a multi-dimensional hierarchical chiral amplification process from the molecular scale to the macroscopic scale.