title: On the origin of helical mesostructures.
abstract: The investigation on the formation mechanism of helical structures and the synthesis of helical materials is attractive for scientists in different fields. Here we report the synthesis of helical mesoporous materials with chiral channels in the presence of achiral surfactants. More importantly, we suggest a simple and purely interfacial interaction mechanism to explain the spontaneous formation of helical mesostructures. Unlike the proposed model for the formation of helical molecular chains or surpramolecular packing based on the geometrically motivated model or the entropically driven model, the origin of the helical mesostructured materials may be attributed to a morphological transformation accompanied by a reduction in surface free energy. After the helical morphology is formed, the increase in bending energy together with the derivation from a perfect hexagonal mesostructure may limit the curvature of helices. Our model may be general and important in the designed synthesis of helical mesoporous materials.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Molecular Catalysis and Innovative Materials, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Sui
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Lingzhi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Chengzhong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Xufeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Jiawei
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Pei
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: Daoyong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Dongyuan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhao
mesh_terms: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D008422:Materials Testing; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D008954:Models, Biological; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry*; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials