Chiral Metal Nanoparticle Superlattices Enabled by Porphyrin-Based Supramolecular Structures

Herein, we show that chiral metal nanoparticle superlattices can be produced through coassembly of achiral metal nanoparticles and porphyrin-based organic molecules. This chirality transfer from molecules to nanoparticle superstructures across three orders of magnitude in length scale is enabled by the hetero chain-chain van der Waals interactions. As far as we know, these are the first chiral nanoparticle assemblies based on chirality transfer through weak van der Waals forces. The dimensionality of the nanoparticle superlattices (1D chiral chains, 2D chiral sheets (cones), and 3D chiral particles) can be controlled based on a same synthetic chiral porphyrin molecule. Metalation of these porphyrin molecules with zinc cations results in the switching of molecular packing from J-type to H-type, which thereby produces 1D chiral nanoparticle chains. Functionalization of these zinc porphyrins with oleylamine can induce the assembly of nanoparticles into 2D chiral nanoparticle sheets.