title: Nanospheres, nanotubes, toroids, and gels with controlled macroscopic chirality.
abstract: The interaction of a highly dynamic poly(aryl acetylene) (poly-1) with Li(+), Na(+), and Ag(+) leads to macroscopically chiral supramolecular nanospheres, nanotubes, toroids, and gels. With Ag(+), nanospheres with M helicity and tunable sizes are generated, which complement those obtained from the same polymer with divalent cations. With Li(+) or Na(+), poly-1 yields chiral nanotubes, gels, or toroids with encapsulating properties and M helicity. Right-handed supramolecular structures can be obtained by using the enantiomeric polymer. The interaction of poly-1 with Na(+) produces nanostructures whose helicity is highly dependent on the solvation state of the cation. Therefore, structures with either of the two helicities can be prepared from the same polymer by manipulation of the cosolvent. Such chiral nanotubes, toroids, and gels have previously not been obtained from helical polymer-metal complexes. Chiral nanospheres made of poly(aryl acetylene) that were previously assembled with metal(II) species can now be obtained with metal(I) species.
authors.affiliation: Department of Organic Chemistry and Center for Research in Biological Chemistry and Molecular Materials (CIQUS), University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela (Spain) http://www.usc.es/ciqus/en/groups/nanobiomol.
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Arias
authors.forename: Félix
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Freire
authors.forename: Emilio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Quiñoá
authors.forename: Ricardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Riguera
keywords: chirality; nanostructures; nanotubes; polymers; toroids