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Updated: Jun 29, 2025
06:35
Construction and Systematical Symmetric Studies of a Series of Supramolecular Clusters with Binary or Ternary Ammonium Triphenylacetates
Published on: February 15, 2016
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Supertwisted Chiral Gyroid Mesophase in Chiral Rod-Like Compounds.
Yan Wang1, Shu-Gui Yang1, Ya-Xin Li2
1State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behaviour of Materials, Shaanxi International Research Center for Soft Matter, Xi'an Jiaotong University, 710049, Xi'an, China.
Angewandte Chemie (International Ed. in English)
|April 3, 2024
Summary
Chiral molecules create a novel metastable chiral gyroid mesophase by altering network twists. This unique structure exhibits homochirality, influencing its chiroptical properties and CD signals.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Supramolecular Chemistry
- Crystallography
Background:
- The gyroid cubic is a ubiquitous bicontinuous self-assembled structure found in various systems like polymers, surfactants, and liquid crystals.
- Typically, the gyroid consists of two interpenetrating networks of opposite chirality, resulting in an achiral overall structure when network contents are equal.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the structural behavior of the gyroid cubic phase when assembled from strongly chiral molecules.
- To characterize the formation and properties of a potentially novel chiral gyroid mesophase.
Main Methods:
- Experimental self-assembly studies of chiral compounds.
- Structural analysis of the resulting mesophases.
- Chiroptical measurements, including Circular Dichroism (CD) spectroscopy.
Main Results:
- Strongly chiral molecules deviate from the typical gyroid network twist, forming a metastable chiral gyroid mesophase.
- Molecules with chiral centers exhibit altered twisting behavior (-110° instead of 70°) in one of the networks to maintain junction orientation.
- The resulting chiral gyroid exhibits homochirality in its constituent nets.
Conclusions:
- The formation of a metastable chiral gyroid mesophase is demonstrated, challenging the conventional understanding of gyroid achirality.
- The homochirality of the chiral gyroid nets leads to CD signals comparable to those of achiral structures, such as the I23 phase.
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