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Chirality

Chirality

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...

Chirality in Nature

Chirality in Nature

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.

Molecules with Multiple Chiral Centers

Molecules with Multiple Chiral Centers

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...

Chirality at Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Sulfur

Chirality at Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Sulfur

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...

π Electron Effects on Chemical Shift: Overview

π Electron Effects on Chemical Shift: Overview

An applied magnetic field causes loosely bound π-electrons in organic molecules to circulate, producing a local or induced diamagnetic field over a large spatial volume. As the molecules tumble in solution, the field generated by π-electrons in spherical substituents results in a zero net field. However, the net field generated by π-electrons in non-spherical substituents is not zero. The effect of this induced field depends on the orientation of the molecule with respect to B0,...

Atomic Nuclei: Nuclear Magnetic Moment

Atomic Nuclei: Nuclear Magnetic Moment

All atomic nuclei are positively charged. When they have a nonzero spin, they behave like rotating charges. As a consequence of their charge and spin, these nuclei generate a magnetic field (B). This, in turn, gives rise to a magnetic moment (μ), which is randomly oriented in the absence of an external magnetic field. When an external magnetic field (B0) is applied, the magnetic moment vectors can align with the field or against it in 2 + 1 orientations. A hydrogen nucleus, which is just a...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 14, 2025

Engineering Molecular Recognition with Bio-mimetic Polymers on Single Walled Carbon Nanotubes

Engineering Molecular Recognition with Bio-mimetic Polymers on Single Walled Carbon Nanotubes

Published on: January 10, 2017

Magnetic Monopole-Like Behavior in Superparamagnetic Nanoparticle Coated With Chiral Molecules.

Qirong Zhu¹, Sidney R Cohen², Olga Brontvein²

¹Department of Chemical and Biological Physics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, 76100, Israel.

Small (Weinheim an Der Bergstrasse, Germany)

|August 29, 2024

Summary

Researchers measured forces between chiral-coated superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) and magnetic substrates. The findings reveal a short-range, monopole-like magnetic field from SPIONs, influenced by molecular chirality and substrate magnetization.

Keywords:

atomic force microscopy chirality magnetic monopole superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles

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Engineering Molecular Recognition with Bio-mimetic Polymers on Single Walled Carbon Nanotubes

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Fabrication Procedures and Birefringence Measurements for Designing Magnetically Responsive Lanthanide Ion Chelating Phospholipid Assemblies

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Measuring Magnetically-Tuned Ferroelectric Polarization in Liquid Crystals

Measuring Magnetically-Tuned Ferroelectric Polarization in Liquid Crystals

Published on: August 15, 2018

Area of Science:

Nanotechnology
Materials Science
Biophysics

Background:

Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) are crucial in biomedicine, catalysis, and magnetic devices.
Understanding SPION interactions with magnetic substrates is key for advanced applications.

Purpose of the Study:

To measure forces between single chiral-molecule-coated SPIONs and magnetized ferromagnetic substrates.
To investigate the influence of molecular chirality and substrate magnetization on SPION forces.
To characterize the magnetic field properties of SPIONs at the nanoscale.

Main Methods:

Utilized atomic force microscopy (AFM) to measure forces between a single SPION and a ferromagnetic substrate.
Varied substrate magnetization direction (toward or away from the AFM tip).
Employed nm-scale spacing layers to probe short-range magnetic field characteristics.

Main Results:

Observed that the force depends on the handedness of chiral molecules on the SPION.
Demonstrated that substrate magnetization direction significantly affects the measured force.
Provided evidence for a short-range magnetic monopole-like field emanating from the SPION.

Conclusions:

SPIONs exhibit unique magnetic field properties influenced by surface chirality and external magnetic fields.
The observed monopole-like field has implications for nanoscale magnetic manipulation and device design.
This study offers a theoretical framework for understanding SPION magnetic interactions.