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Updated: Apr 23, 2026

Line Shape Analysis of Dynamic NMR Spectra for Characterizing Coordination Sphere Rearrangements at a Chiral Rhenium Polyhydride Complex
Published on: July 27, 2022
Aggregation-induced chiral symmetry breaking of a naphthalimide-cyanostilbene dyad
Xin Li1, Liangliang Zhu, Sai Duan
1Division of Theoretical Chemistry and Biology, School of Biotechnology, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, SE-10691 Stockholm, Sweden. lixin@theochem.kth.se.
Abstract:
Spontaneously emerged supramolecular chirality and chiral symmetry breaking from achiral/racemic constituents remain poorly understood. We here report that supramolecular chirality may emerge from the structural flexibility of achiral aryl nitrogen centres which provide instantaneous chirality. Employing a naphthalimide-cyanostilbene dyad as a model, we explored the underlying mechanism of aggregation-induced chiral symmetry breaking and found that the conformations of the N-naphthylpiperazine and the N,N-dimethylaniline units facilitate the formation of ordered supramolecular structures and offer opposite handedness. Furthermore, chiral symmetry breaking of the monomers was amplified by the formation of dimers. The microscopic and the macroscopic observations from the theoretical simulations and experimental measurements are thus rationalized by connecting the population of the dihedral angles of the aryl nitrogen centres, the morphology of the self-assemblies, and the observed circular dichroism spectra.
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