Photocontrolled Reversibly Chiral-Ordered Assembly Based on Cucurbituril.

Area of Science:

• Supramolecular Chemistry
• Materials Science
• Organic Chemistry

Background:

• Chirality transfer and regulation are crucial for advanced materials and biological applications.
• Controlling supramolecular assembly and morphology is key for functional nanomaterials.

Purpose of the Study:

• To fabricate a photocontrolled supramolecular chiral switch.
• To achieve unprecedented chirality transfer from a chiral diphenylalanine moiety to a charge-transfer heterodimer.
• To investigate light-induced morphology transformation and tunable chirality.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a supramolecular system using chiral diphenylalanine (FF), a dithienylethene (DTE) photoswitch, and cucurbit[8]uril (CB[8]).
• Utilizing CB[8] encapsulation to facilitate chirality transfer to a charge-transfer heterodimer.
• Employing distinct light stimuli to modulate induced circular dichroism and photoisomerization of DTE.

Main Results:

• Achieved unprecedented chirality transfer from FF to a charge-transfer heterodimer (DTE-naphthalene) via CB[8] encapsulation.
• Demonstrated that chirality transfer is dependent on CB[8] encapsulation.
• Observed reversible photoisomerization of DTE leading to modulation of induced circular dichroism.
• Reported transformation of nanostructures from 1D nanofibers to 2D nanosheets and reversible interconversion between 2D nanosheets and 1D nanorods with tunable chirality.

Conclusions:

• The developed photocontrolled supramolecular chiral switch enables efficient chirality transfer and light-regulated morphology transformation.
• The system offers a platform for creating responsive nanomaterials with tunable chiroptical properties.
• This work provides new insights into supramolecular assembly, chirality control, and photoresponsive materials.