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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.

Prochirality

Prochirality

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...

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...

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...

Properties of Enantiomers and Optical Activity

Properties of Enantiomers and Optical Activity

It is essential to understand the difference between chiral and achiral interactions and the implications thereof in optical activity and their applications. Just as our feet, which are chiral, interact uniquely with chiral objects, such as a pair of shoes, but identically with achiral socks, enantiomers of a molecule exhibit different properties only when they interact with other chiral media. An example of a significant implication from this facet is the phenomenon known as optical activity,...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jan 8, 2026

Highly Stable, Functional Hairy Nanoparticles and Biopolymers from Wood Fibers: Towards Sustainable Nanotechnology

Highly Stable, Functional Hairy Nanoparticles and Biopolymers from Wood Fibers: Towards Sustainable Nanotechnology

Published on: July 20, 2016

Right-Handed Chiral Photonic Cellulose Nanocrystal Films.

Lihong Wei¹, Lingfeng Zhou², Pan Chen²

¹State Key Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, P. R. China.

|December 15, 2025

Summary

Researchers transformed cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) from cellulose I to cellulose II, achieving chirality inversion in chiral nematic suspensions. This enables the creation of novel right-handed chiral photonic films from plant biomass.

Keywords:

cellulose II cellulose nanocrystals chiral interactions freestanding films left-handed twist right-handed chiral nematic structure twist chirality amplification

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Published on: July 20, 2016

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Green and Low-cost Production of Thermally Stable and Carboxylated Cellulose Nanocrystals and Nanofibrils Using Highly Recyclable Dicarboxylic Acids

Green and Low-cost Production of Thermally Stable and Carboxylated Cellulose Nanocrystals and Nanofibrils Using Highly Recyclable Dicarboxylic Acids

Published on: January 9, 2017

Area of Science:

Materials Science
Nanotechnology
Biomaterials

Background:

Cellulose is a widely used material, but transferring its molecular chirality to larger structures is challenging.
Understanding chirality transfer in cellulose is crucial for developing advanced materials.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate chirality transfer across length scales in cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs).
To demonstrate chirality inversion in CNCs through allomorphic transformation.
To enable the fabrication of novel chiral photonic films.

Main Methods:

Allomorphic transformation of cellulose I to cellulose II in CNCs.
Mercerization, sulfuric acid hydrolysis, and desulfation of plant biomass.
Fabrication of chiral nematic suspensions and photonic films.

Main Results:

Achieved chirality inversion in CNCs from cellulose I to cellulose II.
Successfully fabricated right-handed chiral photonic films using modified CNCs.
Demonstrated control over twist chirality and aspect ratio via crystallite aggregation engineering.

Conclusions:

Allomorphic transformation of CNCs offers a pathway for chirality inversion in colloidal liquid crystals.
This finding opens avenues for developing advanced cellulose materials with tunable chiral properties.
The study presents a novel method for creating inaccessible cellulose materials beyond native crystallinity.