Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

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...

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...

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...

Stereoisomerism

Stereoisomerism

Isomerism in Complexes
Isomers are different chemical species that have the same chemical formula.
Transition metal complexes often exist as geometric isomers, in which the same atoms are connected through the same types of bonds but with differences in their orientation in space. Coordination complexes with two different ligands in the cis and trans positions from a ligand of interest form isomers. For example, the octahedral [Co(NH3)4Cl2]+ ion has two isomers (Figure 1) In the cis...

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...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Observation of Floquet rotational super-radiance.

Nature·2026

Same author

Broadband Radiative Heat Transfer Suppression via Dispersion-Engineered Metasurfaces.

Nature communications·2026

Same author

Mie Scattering Analog Circuit Emulator.

Physical review letters·2026

Same author

Automated synthesis of InSb quantum dots with improved batch-to-batch reproducibility via kinetically matched co-reduction.

Nature communications·2026

Same author

Minkowski-Space Modeling of Hyperbolic Lenses.

Physical review letters·2026

Same author

Enhancing the antenna radiation-bandwidth product with dual-tone temporal modulation.

Nature communications·2026

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jan 3, 2026

An Electrochemical Cholesteric Liquid Crystalline Device for Quick and Low-Voltage Color Modulation

An Electrochemical Cholesteric Liquid Crystalline Device for Quick and Low-Voltage Color Modulation

Published on: February 27, 2019

All-optical reconfigurable chiral meta-molecules.

Linhan Lin^1,2, Sergey Lepeshov³, Alex Krasnok^4,5

¹Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA.

Materials Today (Kidlington, England)

|November 29, 2019

Summary

Researchers created reconfigurable chiral meta-molecules using all-optical methods. These structures enhance optical chirality for spectroscopy and nanophotonic devices, offering new insights into molecular chirality origins.

Keywords:

bottom-up assembly metamolecules optical chirality opto-thermoelectric tweezers

More Related Videos

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

Demonstration of Spin-Multiplexed and Direction-Multiplexed All-Dielectric Visible Metaholograms

Demonstration of Spin-Multiplexed and Direction-Multiplexed All-Dielectric Visible Metaholograms

Published on: September 25, 2020

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jan 3, 2026

An Electrochemical Cholesteric Liquid Crystalline Device for Quick and Low-Voltage Color Modulation

An Electrochemical Cholesteric Liquid Crystalline Device for Quick and Low-Voltage Color Modulation

Published on: February 27, 2019

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

Demonstration of Spin-Multiplexed and Direction-Multiplexed All-Dielectric Visible Metaholograms

Demonstration of Spin-Multiplexed and Direction-Multiplexed All-Dielectric Visible Metaholograms

Published on: September 25, 2020

Area of Science:

Optics and Photonics
Materials Science
Nanotechnology

Background:

Chirality is fundamental in nature, present in biomolecules like amino acids and sugars.
Precise measurement and control of molecular chirality are crucial but challenging in science and medicine.
Existing methods for manipulating chirality are limited in scope and precision.

Purpose of the Study:

To experimentally demonstrate all-optical reconfigurable chiral meta-molecules.
To create advanced substrates for chiroptical spectroscopy and nanophotonic devices.
To develop microscopic models for understanding the fundamental origins of chirality.

Main Methods:

Utilizing metallic and dielectric colloidal particles as building blocks for meta-molecules.
Employing all-optical techniques for the reconfigurable assembly of these meta-molecules.
Characterizing the enhanced optical chirality of the assembled structures.

Main Results:

Successful fabrication of all-optical reconfigurable chiral meta-molecules.
Demonstration of strongly enhanced optical chirality in the meta-molecules.
Validation of meta-molecules as substrates for surface-enhanced chiroptical spectroscopy.
Establishment of meta-molecules as models for studying chirality origins.

Conclusions:

All-optical reconfigurable chiral meta-molecules offer a powerful new platform for advanced optical applications.
These meta-molecules significantly enhance optical chirality, benefiting spectroscopy and device development.
The study provides fundamental insights into the origins of chirality through microscopic modeling.