Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 13, 2025
12:21
Preparation of Monodomain Liquid Crystal Elastomers and Liquid Crystal Elastomer Nanocomposites
Published on: February 6, 2016
12.9K
Engineering Achiral Liquid Crystalline Polymers for Chiral Self-Recovery
Tengfei Miao1, Xiaoxiao Cheng1, Yilin Qian1
1State and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Novel Functional Polymeric Materials, Jiangsu Engineering Laboratory of Novel Functional Polymeric Materials, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China.
International Journal of Molecular Sciences
|November 13, 2021
Summary
Researchers developed a method to store and recover supramolecular chirality in liquid crystal polymers. This creates a novel chiroptical switch that responds to stimuli, offering potential for advanced optical devices.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Polymer Chemistry
- Supramolecular Chemistry
Background:
- Storing and retrieving supramolecular chirality in response to stimuli is challenging.
- Developing advanced chiroptical materials requires novel strategies for chirality management.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop an efficient method for transferring and storing supramolecular chirality in achiral polymeric liquid crystal films.
- To create a stimulus-responsive chiroptical switch using a combined chiral doping and cross-linking strategy.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a side-chain polymeric liquid crystal system.
- Employed chiral doping to introduce chirality.
- Incorporated a cross-linking strategy to permanently store chiral information.
- Investigated stimulus-responsiveness using UV light irradiation.
Main Results:
- Achieved efficient transfer and permanent storage of supramolecular chirality in intrinsically achiral films.
- Demonstrated complete self-recovery of the original chiral superstructure after UV-induced destruction of the helical structure.
- Successfully built a novel chiroptical switch without requiring an additional chiral source.
Conclusions:
- The developed method enables the creation of permanently stored, stimulus-responsive supramolecular chirality.
- The novel chiroptical switch is applicable to various liquid crystal polymers.
- These findings offer a competitive candidate for advanced stimulus-responsive chiro-optical devices.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
02:25Chirality
26.8K
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...
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...
26.8K
02:25Molecules with Multiple Chiral Centers
13.6K
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...
13.6K
02:30Chirality in Nature
14.6K
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.
14.6K
02:30Racemic Mixtures and the Resolution of Enantiomers
19.4K
A racemic mixture, or racemate, is an equimolar mixture of enantiomers of a molecule that can be separated using their unique interaction with chiral molecules or media. Racemic mixtures are denoted by the (±)- prefix. This ‘optical rotation descriptor’ applies to the whole solution of a racemic mixture rather than a specific stereoisomer. Enantiomers typically have the same physical and chemical properties. Hence, they are not easily separable. However, enantiomers can exhibit...
19.4K
02:05Prochirality
4.1K
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...
4.1K
01:26Polymer Classification: Stereospecificity
2.8K
Polymerization generates chiral centers along the entire backbone of a polymer chain. Accordingly, the stereochemistry of the substituent group has a significant effect on polymer properties. Polymers formed from monosubstituted alkene monomers feature chiral carbons at every alternate position in the polymer backbone. Relative to the predominant orientation of substituents at the adjacent chiral carbons, the polymer can exist in three different configurations: isotactic, syndiotactic, and...
2.8K