Themed collection Chiral Nanomaterials

This review shows how chirality may be used for the design, construction and evolution of higher ordered and complex chiral nanostructures through hierarchical self-assembly.

Diverse templating materials and assembly strategies can be used to induce collective optical activity on achiral plasmonic building blocks. We present the advances, applications, challenges, and prospects of plasmonic–excitonic hybrids.

This review highlights the recent development of chiral materials with aggregation-induced emission properties, including their molecular structures, self-assembly and functions.

A series of chiral Au₁₃ nanoclusters were synthesized via the direct reduction of achiral dinuclear Au(I) halide complexes ligated by ortho-xylyl-linked bis-N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligands.

Fluorescence-detected circular dichroism (FDCD) spectroscopy is applied for the first time to supramolecular host–guest and host–protein systems and compared to the more known electronic circular dichroism (ECD).

We present the rational design of photoswitchable DNA glue to trigger the reversible formation of duplex DNA by light. The supramolecular assembly shows a mutual interaction between ligand and DNA, which induces a preferred helicity in the switch.

Achiral poly(quinoxaline-2,3-diyl) containing Ar₂P groups undergo dynamic induction of M-helical conformation through nonbonding interaction with protected AA such as Ac-L-Pro-OMe, serving as a chiral ligand in asymmetric cross-coupling with up to 95% ee.

Polymer electroluminescence devices producing circularly polarized luminescence (CP PLEDs) have valuable photonic applications.

Pillar[5]arene-based chiral nanotube formation via pre-regulation of the building blocks' chirality is more efficient than post-regulating the chirality of nanotubes.

Peptide sequence can be used to control the self-assembly and structures of nanoscale molybdenum blue polyoxometalate (POM) wheel-shaped clusters.

Gold nanoparticles (NPs) were surface functionalized with hexanethiol groups and chiral nematic discogen ligands. A superlattice, liquid crystal behaviour and helix formation of the discs and a second helical organisation of the NPs were detected.

A yolk–shell stereoselective nanozyme is designed with a chiral selector. Nanozyme with D-/L-tryptophan possesses high selectivity towards D-/L-tyrosinol and can catalyze chiral tyrosinol to selectively label live yeast cells.

The formation of both left- and right-handed helical superstructures with circularly polarized luminescence has been achieved in a chiral tetraphenylethylene derivative just by varying the solution polarity without any change in molecular chirality.

Homochiral Ln-MOFs are synthesized to encapsulate achiral dyes to induce strong circularly polarized luminescence with a luminescence dissymmetry factor of 10⁻³.

Understanding and controlling molecular recognition mechanisms at a chiral solid interface has been addressed in metal–organic framework catalysts for the asymmetric transfer hydrogenation reaction.

A remarkable inhibition effect and chiral discrimination are observed when the amyloid peptide aggregates on chiral phospholipid surfaces.

Achiral multi-chain benzil derivatives provide a missing link between mirror symmetry breaking phenomena in fluid systems of polycatenar and bent-core liquid crystals.

Chiral induction: surface-segregated monolayers of chiral molecules induce the enantiomorphic crystallization of achiral fullerene derivatives in thin films.

Enantioseparation of Ag₂₉ nanoclusters with intrinsic chirality was performed by chiral HPLC, affording a pair of fractions with mirror image CD spectra.

A multi-color tunable circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) xerogel film with a large luminescence dissymmetry factor (g_lum) is achieved using a single compound upon protonation.

A polymorphic AIEgen is capable of selective growth in amorphous and crystalline polymer phases with distinct color for microstructure visualization.

Helical supramolecular polymers with a wide lumen structure can puncture the lipid bilayer membrane to facilitate the transport of glucose.

We have developed novel heterogeneous chiral Rh and Rh/Ag NP catalysts immobilized on a chiral diene-containing polymer. The catalysts showed high activity in asymmetric reactions in both batch and flow systems.