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Plasmonic polymers with strong chiroptical response for sensing molecular chirality
Dawei Zhai1, Peng Wang, Rong-Yao Wang
1Key Laboratory of Cluster Science of Ministry of Education, School of Physics, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, 100081, P R China. wangry@bit.edu.cn.
Nanoscale
|June 2, 2015
Summary
Chiral molecules amplify weak ultraviolet chirality into strong visible circular dichroism (CD) signals using plasmonic polymers. This enables sensitive detection and quantification of enantiomers for bioscience applications.
Area of Science:
- Plasmonics
- Chiroptics
- Polymer Science
- Spectroscopy
Background:
- Plasmonic polymers offer unique optical properties.
- Chiral molecules are crucial in biological systems.
- Developing sensitive methods for chiral analysis is important.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate chiroptical transfer and amplification in plasmonic polymers.
- To develop a strategy for controlling chiroptical activity.
- To demonstrate the application of these polymers in chiral analysis.
Main Methods:
- Synthesizing plasmonic polymers from achiral gold nanorods and chiral cysteine molecules.
- Controlling hot spots and bond angles in linear polymers.
- Utilizing circular dichroism (CD) and Raman spectroscopy.
Main Results:
- Achieved amplification of weak UV chirality to strong visible/near-infrared CD signals (over two orders of magnitude).
- Demonstrated tailored and reproducible chiroptical activity.
- Successfully resolved and quantified enantiomeric pairs of cysteine molecules at low concentrations.
Conclusions:
- Plasmonic polymers can effectively transfer and amplify chiroptical signals.
- This technique allows for sensitive and quantitative chiral analysis.
- Applications in bioscience and biomedicine are promising for chiral detection.
