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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...

Polymers

Polymers

The word polymer is derived from the Greek words “poly” which means “many” and “mer” which means “parts”. Polymers are long chains of molecules composed of repeating units of smaller molecules, known as monomers. They either occur naturally, such as DNA and proteins, or can be constructed synthetically, like plastics. They have varied structural characteristics, such as linear chains, branched chains, or complex networks, that contribute to the...

Coordination Number and Geometry

Coordination Number and Geometry

For transition metal complexes, the coordination number determines the geometry around the central metal ion. Table 1 compares coordination numbers to molecular geometry. The most common structures of the complexes in coordination compounds are octahedral, tetrahedral, and square planar.

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.

Coordination Compounds and Nomenclature

Coordination Compounds and Nomenclature

In most main group element compounds, the valence electrons of the isolated atoms combine to form chemical bonds that satisfy the octet rule. For instance, the four valence electrons of carbon overlap with electrons from four hydrogen atoms to form CH4. The one valence electron leaves sodium and adds to the seven valence electrons of chlorine to form the ionic formula unit NaCl (Figure 1a). Transition metals do not normally bond in this fashion. They primarily form coordinate covalent bonds, a...

Lattice Centering and Coordination Number

Lattice Centering and Coordination Number

The structure of a crystalline solid, whether a metal or not, is best described by considering its simplest repeating unit, which is referred to as its unit cell. The unit cell consists of lattice points that represent the locations of atoms or ions. The entire structure then consists of this unit cell repeating in three dimensions. The three different types of unit cells present in the cubic lattice are illustrated in Figure 1.
Types of Unit Cells
Imagine taking a large number of identical...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Feb 11, 2026

Preparation of Highly Porous Coordination Polymer Coatings on Macroporous Polymer Monoliths for Enhanced Enrichment of Phosphopeptides

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Published on: July 14, 2015

Helical Coordination Polymers with Large Chiral Cavities.

Kumar Biradha¹, Corey Seward¹, Michael J Zaworotko¹

¹Department of Chemistry, The University of Winnipeg, 515 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3B 2E9 (Canada), Fax: (+1) 204-783-7981.

Angewandte Chemie (International Ed. in English)

|May 2, 2018

Summary

This study presents a novel helical coordination polymer with large chiral cavities capable of encapsulating nitrobenzene molecules and dimers. These findings highlight potential applications in molecular recognition and separation technologies.

Keywords:

Chirality Coordination polymers Crystal engineering Helical structures Supramolecular chemistry

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Area of Science:

Coordination Chemistry
Supramolecular Chemistry
Materials Science

Background:

Helical coordination polymers offer unique structural motifs for host-guest chemistry.
Chiral cavities within materials can enable selective molecular recognition.

Purpose of the Study:

To synthesize and characterize a novel helical coordination polymer.
To investigate the host-guest properties of the chiral cavities within the polymer.

Main Methods:

Single-crystal X-ray diffraction to determine the structure of the coordination polymer.
Cavity volume analysis and molecular modeling to assess encapsulation capabilities.

Main Results:

The synthesized compound [{Ni(4,4'-dipy)(3-nitrobenzoate)2 (MeOH)2 }n] crystallizes in a helical structure.
The helical structure features large chiral cavities (400-500 Å3) occupying a quarter of the unit cell volume.
These cavities demonstrate the ability to encapsulate both individual nitrobenzene molecules and their face-to-face dimers.

Conclusions:

The novel helical coordination polymer possesses significant chiral void space suitable for molecular encapsulation.
The demonstrated encapsulation of nitrobenzene dimers suggests potential for selective guest binding and separation applications.