Chiral Nanoceramics

Abstract

Jinchen Fan received his Ph.D. degree from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 2014. He is now an associate professor at Shanghai University of Electric Power, China. He joined Prof. Kotov's group as a visiting scholar from October 2017 to October 2019. His current research focus is on the fabrication of chiral nanoceramics and their applications in chiroptical activity and catalysis. 2.2. Chiral Assemblies and Soft Templates Most of organic amphiphiles can be assembled into chiral superstructures. [43] This series of superstructures can be used as soft templates in the preparation of helical ceramic nanomaterials including, SiO 2 , [44] Ta 2 O 5 , [45] TiO 2 , [46] ZrO 2 , [47] and poly(bi ssilsesquioxane) [48] via the sol-gel transcription approach. Similarly, bio-macromolecules, such as peptides and DNA can serve as templates for realizing chiral ZnO [49] and silica structures. [50] Chiral synthesis with sodium cholate (SC) also serves as a representative example of this method. Because of its amphiphilic character, SC self-assembles into a unique bilayer structure through the hydrogen bonding between hydroxyl groups. [51] Huang and co-workers [51b] used the SC assembled via coordination with calcium ions, well-defined helical nanoribbons for creating additional helical SiO 2 and ZnS by sol-gel process. Methods of chirality transfer from soft templates often include self-organization ceramic building blocks based on hydrogen bonding, van der Waals forces, π-π stacking, hydrophobic effect, electrostatic and Coulomb interactions, and metal coordination. [41] One of representative examples of chiral assembly is the preparation of chiral nanostructured silica that proceeds via Nicholas A. Kotov pioneered conceptual foundations and technical realizations of biomimetic nanostructures, which include chiral nanomaterials. Chiral ceramic nanostructures are being investigated in his laboratory for optical, magnetic, biological, and catalytic properties. His contribution to technology include nacremimetic nanocomposites including those from graphene oxide, 3D tissue replicas for drug-testing, chiral biosensors, and cartilage-like electrolytes for batteries. He is a founder of several start-up companies that commercialized bioinspired nanomaterials for biomedical, energy, and automotive technologies.

Stereochemistry and Twisted Crystals

“…[134,135] Away from organic compounds, the area of chiral nanoceramics is a burgeoning area that benefits from controlled growth of twisted crystals. [136] There are even suggestions that the passage of chirality between macroscopic objects, rather than single molecules, could have had an influence on the emergence of homochirality in biological systems. [137] Whatever the case, there are many opportunities in the exploration of twisted crystals.…”

Chirality communications between inorganic and organic compounds

“…There are many different strategies to prepare chiral inorganics now, 3,107 such as template growth, glancing angle deposition, chiral biomineralization, and chiral imprinting, and so forth. Different strategies can be used in different material systems.…”

Cooperative formation of porous silica and peptides on the prebiotic Earth

“…Ordered mesoporous silica with chiral hexagonal pore structure was fabricated using folic acid as a template (28). Helical mesoporous silica can be synthesized from achiral surfactants (29)(30)(31)(32). Properties of these materials can be manipulated further through functionalization of the organic molecules to produce mesoporous silica with large chiral internal surface area (33).…”