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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.

Ionic Crystal Structures

Ionic Crystal Structures

Ionic crystals consist of two or more different kinds of ions that usually have different sizes. The packing of these ions into a crystal structure is more complex than the packing of metal atoms that are the same size.
Most monatomic ions behave as charged spheres, and their attraction for ions of opposite charge is the same in every direction. Consequently, stable structures for ionic compounds result (1) when ions of one charge are surrounded by as many ions as possible of the opposite...

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...

Crystal Growth: Principles of Crystallization

Crystal Growth: Principles of Crystallization

Crystallization is a phase transformation process in which crystals are precipitated from a supersaturated solution or formed from other sources. During crystallization, atoms or molecules arrange themselves into a well-defined, rigid crystal lattice to minimize energy.
Initiating crystallization involves manipulating the concentration of the solute and the temperature of the solution. Since crystal growth occurs when the ratio of concentration and solubility of the solute in the solvent...

Molecules with Multiple Chiral Centers

Molecules with Multiple Chiral Centers

Molecules that possess multiple chiral centers can afford a large number of stereoisomers. For instance, while some molecules like 2-butanol have one chiral center, defined as a tetrahedral carbon atom with four different substituents attached, several molecules like butane-2,3-diol have multiple chiral centers. A simple formula to predict the number of stereoisomers possible for a molecule with n chiral centers is 2n. However, there can be a lower number where some of the stereoisomers are...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Feb 15, 2026

Preparation of Monodomain Liquid Crystal Elastomers and Liquid Crystal Elastomer Nanocomposites

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Published on: February 6, 2016

Electroclinic effect in chiral smectic-A liquid crystal elastomers.

Noy Cohen¹, Kaushik Bhattacharya¹

¹Division of Engineering and Applied Science, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA.

Physical Review. E

|January 20, 2018

Summary

Chiral smectic-A liquid crystal elastomers exhibit electromechanical responses. This study models their behavior, showing deformation-induced polarization and electrically induced deformation that align with experimental results.

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Area of Science:

Materials Science
Soft Matter Physics
Liquid Crystals

Background:

Chiral smectic-A liquid crystal elastomers possess unique electromechanical properties.
Previous experiments show shear deformation under electric fields and polarization under shear.
Understanding these responses is crucial for developing novel electroactive materials.

Purpose of the Study:

To develop a comprehensive model for the electromechanical response of chiral smectic-A liquid crystal elastomers.
To investigate the relationship between material structure, electric fields, and mechanical deformation.
To explore the influence of helical structures on electromechanical behavior.

Main Methods:

Modeling electromechanical response using free energy contributions.
Incorporating lamellar structure, director tilt, and electric field coupling.
Analyzing two specific cases: deformation-induced polarization and electrically induced deformation.

Main Results:

The proposed model qualitatively agrees with experimental findings for both deformation-induced polarization and electrically induced deformation.
The electromechanical response of helical smectic layers was shown to be dependent on the helix angle.

Conclusions:

The developed model provides a robust framework for understanding the electromechanical behavior of chiral smectic-A liquid crystal elastomers.
The findings highlight the potential for tailoring these materials for specific electro-mechanical applications.
Further research into helical structures can lead to advanced functional materials.