Chiral nanocrystals grown from MoS2 nanosheets enable photothermally modulated enantioselective release of antimicrobial drugs

December 2, 2022

Title

Chiral nanocrystals grown from MoS2 nanosheets enable photothermally modulated enantioselective release of antimicrobial drugs

Author

Bang Lin Li, Jun Jiang Luo, Hao Lin Zou, Qing-Meng Zhang, Liu-Bin Zhao, Hang Qian, Hong Qun Luo, David Tai Leong & Nian Bing Li

Year

2022

Journal

Nature communications

Abstract

The transfer of the concept of chirality from molecules to synthesized nanomaterials has attracted attention amongst multidisciplinary teams. Here we demonstrate heterogeneous nucleation and anisotropic accumulation of Au nanoparticles on multilayer MoS2 planes to form chiroptically functional nanomaterials. Thiol amino acids with chiral conformations modulate asymmetric growth of gold nanoarchitectures on seeds of highly faceted Au/MoS2 heterostructures. Consequently, dendritic plasmonic nanocrystals with partial chiral morphologies are synthesized. The chirality of dendritic nanocrystals inherited from cysteine molecules refers to the structural characteristics and includes specific recognition of enantiomeric molecules. With integration of the intrinsic photothermal properties and inherited enantioselective characteristics, dendritic Au/MoS2 heterostructures exhibit chirality-dependent release of antimicrobial drugs from hydrogel substrates when activated by exogenous infrared irradiation. A three-in-one strategy involving synthesis of chiral dendritic heterostructures, enantioselective recognition, and controlled drug release system is presented, which improves nanomaterial synthetic technology and enhances our understanding of crucial chirality information.

Instrument

J-810

Keywords

chiral, nanocrystals, MoS2, nanosheet, antimicrobial drugs