Chiral templating of self-assembling nanostructures by circularly polarized light.
The high optical and chemical activity of nanoparticles (NPs) signifies the possibility of converting the spin angular momenta of photons into structural changes in matter. Here, we demonstrate that illumination of dispersions of racemic CdTe NPs with right- (left-)handed circularly polarized light (CPL) induces the formation of right- (left-)handed twisted nanoribbons with an enantiomeric excess exceeding 30%, which is ∼10 times higher than that of typical CPL-induced reactions. Linearly polarized light or dark conditions led instead to straight nanoribbons. CPL 'templating' of NP assemblies is based on the enantio-selective photoactivation of chiral NPs and clusters, followed by their photooxidation and self-assembly into nanoribbons with specific helicity as a result of chirality-sensitive interactions between the NPs. The ability of NPs to retain the polarization information of incident photons should open pathways for the synthesis of chiral photonic materials and allow a better understanding of the origins of biomolecular homochirality.
Department of Macromolecular Science and Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA.
Jihyeon
J
Yeom
Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA.
Bongjun
B
Yeom
Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60607, USA.
Henry
H
Chan
Department of Chemistry, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, USA.
Kyle W
KW
Smith
Department of Chemistry, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, USA.
Sergio
S
Dominguez-Medina
Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA.
Joong Hwan
JH
Bahng
Department of Structural Biology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, USA.
Gongpu
G
Zhao
Department of Chemistry, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, USA.
Wei-Shun
WS
Chang
1] Division of Material Sciences, Korea Basic Science Institute, Daejeon 305-333, Republic of Korea [2] Department of Chemistry, Chung-Ang University, 84 Heukseok-ro Dongjak-gu 156-756, Republic of Korea.
Sung-Jin
SJ
Chang
1] CIC NanoGUNE Consolider, Tolosa Hiribidea 76, Donostia-San Sebastian 20018, Spain [2] Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science, Alameda Urquijo 36-5, 48011 Bilbao, Spain.
Andrey
A
Chuvilin
1] CIC NanoGUNE Consolider, Tolosa Hiribidea 76, Donostia-San Sebastian 20018, Spain [2] Centro de Física de Materiales (MPC, CSIC-UPV/EHU), Po Manuel de Lardizabal 5, Donostia-San Sebastian 20018, Spain.
Dzmitry
D
Melnikau
Department of Physics and Materials Science and Centre for Functional Photonics (CFP); City University of Hong Kong, 83 Tat Chee Avenue Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Andrey L
AL
Rogach
1] Department of Structural Biology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, USA [2] Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science, Swanson School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, USA.
Peijun
P
Zhang
Department of Chemistry, Rice University, Houston, Texas 77005, USA.
Stephan
S
Link
1] Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60607, USA [2] Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60607, USA.
Petr
P
Král
1] Department of Macromolecular Science and Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA [2] Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA [3] Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA.
Nicholas A
NA
Kotov
D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry*; D055668:Photochemical Processes; D017785:Photons; D013237:Stereoisomerism