Title
Controllable supramolecular chiral twisted nanoribbons from achiral conjugated oligoaniline derivatives
Author
Chuanqiang Zhou, Yuanyuan Ren, Jie Han, Xiangxiang Gong, Zhixiang Wei, Ju Xie, Rong Guo
Year
2018
Journal
JACS
Abstract
The fabrication of supramolecular chiral nanostructures from achiral materials without the need of pre-existing chirality is a major chal-lenge associated with the origin of life. Herein, supramolecular chiral twisted nanoribbons of achiral oligoaniline derivatives were prepared via simply performing the chemical oxidation of aniline in alcohol/water mixed solvent. In particular, the supramolecular chi-rality of the twisted nanoribbons could be controlled by facilely tuning the alcohol content in the mixed solvent. A tetra-aniline de-rivative C24H20O3N4 was attested to be the major component of the obtained nanoribbons. The main driving forces for the assembly of the oligoaniline derivative into twisted nanoribbons might be the π-π stacking and hydrogen bonding interactions among the chains which could be modulated by the alcohol content in the mixed sol-vent. The single-handed twisted nanoribbons could be used to sepa-rate chiral phenylalanine from a racemic mixture. Thus, it is highly anticipated that the supramolecular chirality endows π-conjugated molecules with potential application in chiral recognition.
Full Article
Instrument
J-810
Keywords
Circular dichroism, Cotton effect, Chemical stability, Nanostructures, Materials