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Related Concept Videos

Chirality02:25

Chirality

24.5K
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...
24.5K
Molecules with Multiple Chiral Centers02:25

Molecules with Multiple Chiral Centers

11.9K
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...
11.9K
Chirality at Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Sulfur02:30

Chirality at Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Sulfur

5.8K
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...
5.8K
Prochirality02:05

Prochirality

3.8K
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...
3.8K
Chirality in Nature02:30

Chirality in Nature

13.6K
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.
13.6K
Ionic Crystal Structures02:42

Ionic Crystal Structures

14.5K
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...
14.5K

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Aug 1, 2025

Construction and Systematical Symmetric Studies of a Series of Supramolecular Clusters with Binary or Ternary Ammonium Triphenylacetates
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Construction and Systematical Symmetric Studies of a Series of Supramolecular Clusters with Binary or Ternary Ammonium Triphenylacetates

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Self-assembled inorganic chiral superstructures.

Jiawei Lv1,2, Xiaoqing Gao3, Bing Han4

  • 1CAS Key Laboratory of Nanosystem and Hierarchical Fabrication, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing, People's Republic of China.

Nature Reviews. Chemistry
|April 28, 2023
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Researchers are creating inorganic chiral superstructures with unique optical properties. These self-assembled nanomaterials offer enhanced optical activity for advanced applications in optics and catalysis.

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Last Updated: Aug 1, 2025

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Self-assembling Morphologies Obtained from Helical Polycarbodiimide Copolymers and Their Triazole Derivatives
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Area of Science:

  • Nanotechnology
  • Materials Science
  • Chemistry
  • Physics

Background:

  • Controlled assembly of inorganic nanoparticles into higher-order structures is a key goal.
  • Chiral superstructures, breaking nanoscale spatial symmetries, are of great interest due to their unique chiroptical properties.
  • These structures have potential applications in optics, catalysis, and biology.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review recent progress in the preparation of self-assembled inorganic chiral superstructures.
  • To emphasize the driving forces behind symmetry breaking during assembly.
  • To highlight the chiroptical properties and applications of these superstructures.

Main Methods:

  • Discusses bottom-up strategies for building inorganic chiral superstructures.
  • Focuses on methods utilizing intrinsic building block preferences, external fields, or chiral templates.
  • Reviews self-assembly processes driven by electric/magnetic coupling.

Main Results:

  • Self-assembled inorganic chiral superstructures exhibit superior optical activity compared to organic counterparts.
  • Demonstrates the importance of symmetry breaking in the assembly process.
  • Highlights diverse applications stemming from collective functionalities.

Conclusions:

  • Inorganic chiral superstructures represent a significant advancement in nanomaterials.
  • Further research should focus on understanding and controlling assembly dynamics.
  • Exploration of novel applications leveraging their unique chiroptical properties is encouraged.