The Chirality Induction and Modulation of Polymers by Circularly Polarized Light

Abstract

Chirality is a natural attribute nature of living matter and plays an important role in maintaining the metabolism, evolution and functional activities of living organisms. Asymmetric conformation represents the chiral structure of biomacromolecules in living organisms on earth, such as the L-amino acids of proteins and enzymes, and the D-sugars of DNA or RNA, which exist preferentially as one enantiomer. Circularly polarized light (CPL), observed in the formation regions of the Orion constellation, has long been proposed as one of the origins of single chirality. Herein, the CPL triggered asymmetric polymerization, photo-modulation of chirality based on polymers are described. The mechanisms between CPL and polymers (including polydiacetylene, azobenzene polymers, chiral coordination polymers, and polyfluorene) are described in detail. This minireview provides a promising flexible asymmetric synthesis method for the fabrication of chiral polymer via CPL irradiation, with the hope of obtaining a better understanding of the origin of homochirality on earth.

Aggregation‐Induced Emission: New Vistas at the Aggregate Level

“…Chirality is ubiquitous in nature and almost all living systems depend on chiral structures at the molecular, supramolecular, and polymeric level . Circularly polarized light is considered to be one of the key factors related with the origin of chirality . Moreover, it has found important applications in many advanced optical technologies such as optical data storage, chiral recognition, and 3D displays .…”

Aggregationsinduzierte Emission: Einblicke auf Aggregatebene

“…Chiralität ist in der Natur ubiquitär, und fast alle lebenden Systeme sind von chiralen Strukturen auf molekularer, supramolekularer oder Polymerebene abhängig . Zirkular‐polarisiertes Licht wird als einer der Schlüsselfaktoren in der Entstehung der Chiralität betrachtet . Die Chiralität von Verbindungen spielt auch in fortgeschrittenen optischen Technologien wie der optischen Datenspeicherung, chiraler Erkennung und für 3D‐Bildschirme eine wichtige Rolle .…”

Exchange Interactions Drive Supramolecular Chiral Induction in Polyaniline

“…[ 13–18 ] Anyhow, the strategy to exploit the presence of a chiral catalyst to induce asymmetry, in inorganic systems, is reported to efficiently introduce chiral properties in bulk systems, as reported, for instance, in elegant and highly interesting recent papers by Mogi, Kuhn, Avnir, Naaman, Switzer and Di Nuzzo. [ 19–30 ] Indeed, the same approach of a bulk chiral catalyst to induce asymmetry is exploited to yield organic polymers featuring an intrinsically chiral super‐structure, [ 29,31,32 ] and in the case of electropolymerized systems. [ 26,33 ] In the last decades chiral induction is also marked by a quite interesting development concerning the field of chiral induction in polydialkylfluorenes and in the field of nanomaterials in general.…”