Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 15, 2026
09:28
Engineering Molecular Recognition with Bio-mimetic Polymers on Single Walled Carbon Nanotubes
Published on: January 10, 2017
8.5K
Chiral Imprinting on Inorganic Nanoparticles for Enantioselective Surface Recognition
Susanna Tinello1, Mélanie Emery1, Markus Niederberger1
1Department of Materials, Laboratory for Multifunctional Materials, ETH Zurich, Vladimir-Prelog-Weg 5, Zurich, 8093, Switzerland.
Small (Weinheim an Der Bergstrasse, Germany)
|October 14, 2025
Summary
Chiral titanium dioxide nanoparticles were synthesized using threoninol. These nanoparticles selectively re-bind the original threoninol enantiomer after ligand removal, demonstrating imprinted enantioselectivity.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Nanotechnology
- Surface Chemistry
Background:
- Chiral semiconductor nanoparticles offer potential for enantioselective applications.
- Chirality can arise during nanoparticle formation and surface interactions.
- Understanding chiral ligand-nanoparticle interactions is crucial for developing enantioselective materials.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the induction and retention of chirality in titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles using threoninol.
- To elucidate the binding mode of threoninol to the TiO2 surface.
- To demonstrate enantioselective recognition by the chiral TiO2 nanoparticles.
Main Methods:
- Synthesis of chiral TiO2 nanoparticles using threoninol as a chiral ligand.
- Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to study threoninol binding.
- UV irradiation for ligand removal and subsequent re-exposure to racemic threoninol.
Main Results:
- Threoninol binds to the TiO2 surface primarily through hydrogen bonding via its hydroxyl groups.
- Chiral TiO2 nanoparticles selectively re-adsorbed the original threoninol enantiomer after complete ligand removal.
- Evidence for imprinted enantioselective sites on the TiO2 nanoparticle surface was observed.
Conclusions:
- Chiral ligands can imprint enantioselective properties onto inorganic nanomaterials like TiO2.
- The TiO2 nanoparticle surface retains a memory of the chiral ligand, enabling enantioselective recognition.
- This study highlights the potential of chiral nanomaterials for applications in enantioseparation and selective catalysis.
Related Concept Videos
02:30Chirality at Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Sulfur
6.8K
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...
A consequence of chirality is the need for enantiomeric resolution. While this is theoretically possible for all...
6.8K
02:05Prochirality
4.8K
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...
4.8K
02:30Chirality in Nature
16.6K
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.
16.6K
02:25Chirality
29.0K
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...
29.0K
00:58¹H NMR Chemical Shift Equivalence: Enantiotopic and Diastereotopic Protons
3.2K
Replacing each alpha-hydrogen in chloroethane by bromine (or a different functional group) yields a pair of enantiomers. Such protons are called prochiral or enantiotopic and are related by a mirror plane. Enantiotopic protons are chemically equivalent in an achiral environment. Because most proton NMR spectra are recorded using achiral solvents, enantiotopic hydrogens yield a single signal.
In chiral compounds such as 2-butanol, replacing the methylene hydrogens at C3 produces a pair of...
In chiral compounds such as 2-butanol, replacing the methylene hydrogens at C3 produces a pair of...
3.2K