Title
Determining Chiral Configuration of Diamines via Contact Angle Measurements on Enantioselective Alanine-Appended Benzene-Tricarboxamide Gelators
Author
Sung Ho Jung, Ka Young Kim, Ahreum Ahn, Myong Yong Choi, Justyn Jaworski, Jong Hwa Jung
Year
2016
Journal
Applied Materials and Interfaces
Abstract
Spectroscopic techniques exist that may discern between enantiomers and assess chiral purity. A nonspectroscopic approach that may be directly observed could provide numerous benefits. Using chiral alanine-appended benzene-tricarboxamide gelators, we reveal a methanol gel system that is capable of providing visual discrimination between enantiomers of various diamines. Specifically, gelation is induced by supramolecular nanofiber assembly resulting from interaction between a chiral gelator and a diamine of opposing chirality (i.e., a heterochiral system). Upon further implementing the chiral gelator in electrospun fibers as solid state films, we revealed enantioselective surface wetting properties that allowed for determining chirality through contact angle measurements. While these two approaches of observable gelation and surface wetting offer nonspectroscopic approaches, we also find that the supramolecular nanofiber assembly was able to enhance the induced circular dichroism signal resulting from addition of chiral diamines, allowing precise quantification of their enantiomeric purity.
Instrument
J-815
Keywords
Circular dichroism, Stereochemistry, Materials