Molecular chirality detection using plasmonic and dielectric nanoparticles

Nanoscale particles and structures hold promise in circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy for overcoming the weakness of molecular CD signals. Significant effort have been made to characterize nanophotonic CD enhancement and find efficient ways to boost molecular chirality, but the best solution is yet to be found. In this paper, we present a rigorous analytic study of the nanophotonic CD enhancement of typical nanoparticles. We consider metallic and dielectric nanoparticles capped with chiral molecules and analyze the effect of multipolar nanoparticles on the molecular CD. We identify the spectral features of the molecular CD resulting from the electric and magnetic resonances of nanoparticles and suggest better ways to boost molecular chirality. We also clarify the contribution of particle scattering and absorption to the molecular CD and the dependence on particle size. Our work provides an exact analytic approach to nanophotonic CD enhancement and offers a rule for selecting the most efficient particle for sensitive molecular chirality detection.

A Potentially Limitless Chiral Pool via Conglomerate Crystallisation: Unidentified Spontaneous Resolution in the CSD.

Conglomerate crystallisation is the behaviour responsible for spontaneous resolution and the discovery of molecular chirality by Pasteur. The phenomenon of conglomerate crystallisation of chiral organic molecules has been left largely undocumented and offers synthetic chemists a potential new chiral pool not reliant on biological systems to supply stereochemical information. While other crystallographic behaviours can be interrogated by automated searching, conglomerate crystallisations are not identified within the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD) and are therefore not accessible by conventional means. By conducting a manual search of the CSD, a list of over 1,700 chiral species capable of conglomerate crystallisation was curated by inspection of the synthetic routes described in each publication. The majority of these are produced by synthetic chemists who seldom note and rarely exploit the implications this phenomenon can have on the enantioenrichment of their crystalline materials. We propose that this list represents a limitless chiral pool which will continually grow in size as more conglomerate crystals are synthesised and recorded.

Mechanically axially chiral catenanes and noncanonical chiral rotaxanes

Chirality, the property of objects that are distinct from their own mirror image, is important in many scientific areas but particularly chemistry, where the appearance of molecular chirality because of rigid arrangements of atoms in space famously influences a molecule’s biological properties. Less generally appreciated is that two molecular rings with chemically distinct faces combined like links in a chain results in a chiral structure even when the rings are achiral. To date, no enantiopure examples of such mechanically axially chiral catenanes has been reported. We re-examined the symmetry properties of the mechanically axially chiral motif and identified a straightforward route to such molecules from simple building blocks. We also identify that common representations of axially chiral catenanes obscure that a previously overlooked stereogenic unit arises when a ring is threaded onto a dumbbell-shaped molecule to generate a rotaxane. These insights allowed us to demonstrate the first stereoselective syntheses of an axially chiral catenane and a noncanonical axially chiral rotaxane motif. With methods to access these structures in hand, the process of exploring their properties and applications can now begin.

Mechanically axially chiral catenanes and noncanonical chiral rotaxanes

Chirality, the property of objects that are distinct from their own mirror image, is important in many scientific areas but particularly chemistry, where the appearance of molecular chirality because of rigid arrangements of atoms in space famously influences a molecule’s biological properties. Less generally appreciated is that two molecular rings with chemically distinct faces combined like links in a chain results in a chiral structure even when the rings are achiral. To date, no enantiopure examples of such mechanically axially chiral catenanes has been reported. We re-examined the symmetry properties of the mechanically axially chiral motif and identified a straightforward route to such molecules from simple building blocks. We also identify that common representations of axially chiral catenanes obscure that a previously overlooked stereogenic unit arises when a ring is threaded onto a dumbbell-shaped molecule to generate a rotaxane. These insights allowed us to demonstrate the first stereoselective syntheses of an axially chiral catenane and a noncanonical axially chiral rotaxane motif. With methods to access these structures in hand, the process of exploring their properties and applications can now begin.

Mechanically axially chiral catenanes and noncanonical chiral rotaxanes

Chirality, the property of objects that are distinct from their own mirror image, is important in many scientific areas but particularly chemistry, where the appearance of molecular chirality because of rigid arrangements of atoms in space famously influences a molecule’s biological properties. Less generally appreciated is that two molecular rings with chemically distinct faces combined like links in a chain results in a chiral structure even when the rings are achiral. To date, no enantiopure examples of such mechanically axially chiral catenanes has been reported. We re-examined the symmetry properties of the mechanically axially chiral motif and identified a straightforward route to such molecules from simple building blocks. We also identify that common representations of axially chiral catenanes obscure that a previously overlooked stereogenic unit arises when a ring is threaded onto a dumbbell-shaped molecule to generate a rotaxane. These insights allowed us to demonstrate the first stereoselective syntheses of an axially chiral catenane and a noncanonical axially chiral rotaxane motif. With methods to access these structures in hand, the process of exploring their properties and applications can now begin.

Advances in Chirality Sensing with Macrocyclic Molecules

The construction of chemical sensors that can distinguish molecular chirality has attracted increasing attention in recent years due to the significance of chiral organic molecules and the importance of detecting their absolute configuration and chiroptical purity. The supramolecular chirality sensing strategy has shown promising potential due to its advantages of high throughput, sensitivity, and fast chirality detection. This review focuses on chirality sensors based on macrocyclic compounds. Macrocyclic chirality sensors usually have inherent complexing ability towards certain chiral guests, which combined with the signal output components, could offer many unique advantages/properties compared to traditional chiral sensors. Chirality sensing based on macrocyclic sensors has shown rapid progress in recent years. This review summarizes recent advances in chirality sensing based on both achiral and chiral macrocyclic compounds, especially newly emerged macrocyclic molecules.