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Chirality

Chirality

Chirality is a term that describes the lack of mirror symmetry in an object. In other words, chiral objects cannot be superposed on their mirror images. For example, our feet are chiral, as the mirror image of the left foot, the right foot, cannot be superposed on the left foot.
Chiral objects exhibit a sense of handedness when they interact with another chiral object. For example, our left foot can only fit in the left shoe and not in the right shoe. Achiral objects — objects that have...

Chirality in Nature

Chirality in Nature

Chirality is the most intriguing yet essential facet of nature, governing life’s biochemical processes and precision. It can be observed from a snail shell pattern in a macroscopic world to an amino acid, the minutest building block of life. Most of the snails around the world have right-coiled shells because of the intrinsic chirality in their genes. All the amino acids present in the human body exist in an enantiomerically pure state, except for glycine - the sole achiral amino acid.

Chirality at Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Sulfur

Chirality at Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Sulfur

Chirality is most prevalent in carbon-based tetrahedral compounds, but this important facet of molecular symmetry extends to sp3-hybridized nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur centers, including trivalent molecules with lone pairs. Here, the lone pair behaves as a functional group in addition to the other three substituents to form an analogous tetrahedral center that can be chiral.
A consequence of chirality is the need for enantiomeric resolution. While this is theoretically possible for all...

Prochirality

Prochirality

The concept of prochirality leads to the nomenclature of the individual faces of a molecule and plays a crucial role in the enantioselective reaction. It is a concept where two or more achiral molecules react to produce chiral products. A typical process is the reaction of an achiral ketone to generate a chiral alcohol. Here, the achiral reactant reacts with an achiral reducing agent, sodium borohydride, to generate an equimolar mixture of the chiral enantiomers of the product. For example, an...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Mar 1, 2026

Assembly of Gold Nanorods into Chiral Plasmonic Metamolecules Using DNA Origami Templates

Assembly of Gold Nanorods into Chiral Plasmonic Metamolecules Using DNA Origami Templates

Published on: March 5, 2019

Chiral plasmonics.

Mario Hentschel¹, Martin Schäferling¹, Xiaoyang Duan^2,3

¹4th Physics Institute and Research Center SCoPE, University of Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 57, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany.

Science Advances

|June 1, 2017

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Chiral plasmonic nanosystems offer unique optical properties. This overview covers fabricated and synthesized nanostructures, including active systems for enantiomeric sensing applications.

Keywords:

Plasmons chirality circular dichrosim enantiomers stereochemistry

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Colloidal Synthesis of Nanopatch Antennas for Applications in Plasmonics and Nanophotonics

Colloidal Synthesis of Nanopatch Antennas for Applications in Plasmonics and Nanophotonics

Published on: May 28, 2016

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Last Updated: Mar 1, 2026

Assembly of Gold Nanorods into Chiral Plasmonic Metamolecules Using DNA Origami Templates

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Published on: March 5, 2019

Performing Spectroscopy on Plasmonic Nanoparticles with Transmission-Based Nomarski-Type Differential Interference Contrast Microscopy

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Colloidal Synthesis of Nanopatch Antennas for Applications in Plasmonics and Nanophotonics

Colloidal Synthesis of Nanopatch Antennas for Applications in Plasmonics and Nanophotonics

Published on: May 28, 2016

Area of Science:

Plasmonics
Nanotechnology
Chirality
Optical properties

Background:

Chirality is a fundamental property in nature with significant optical manifestations.
Plasmonic nanosystems exhibit unique light-matter interactions due to collective electron oscillations.
Understanding chiral plasmonic nanostructures is crucial for advanced optical applications.

Purpose of the Study:

To provide a comprehensive overview of chirality in plasmonic nanosystems and nanostructures.
To discuss various fabrication and synthesis methods for chiral plasmonic structures.
To explore the potential of active chiral plasmonic systems and their application in enantiomeric sensing.

Main Methods:

Review of top-down fabrication techniques for metallic nanostructures and nanoparticle assemblies.
Discussion of bottom-up synthesis approaches using scaffolds like DNA and peptides.
Overview of recent advancements in active chiral plasmonic systems with tunable responses.

Main Results:

Detailed examination of solid metallic nanostructures and three-dimensional nanoparticle arrangements.
Presentation of complex nanoparticle assemblies with up to hundreds of nanoparticles.
Highlighting the dynamic control of chiral optical responses in active systems.

Conclusions:

Chiral plasmonic nanostructures, both static and active, offer diverse optical properties.
Advanced fabrication and synthesis methods enable complex chiral arrangements.
These systems hold significant promise for highly sensitive enantiomeric sensing.