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Self-Assembly of Chiral Metal-Organic Helicates and Enhancement of Chiroptical Properties via Subcomponent Modulation
Ya-Liang Lai1,2,3, Xian-Chao Zhou3, Di Guo3
1Department of Orthopaedics, Chaoshan Hospital of The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University; Raoping Chaozhou, Guangdong 515700, China.
Abstract:
We report three chiral metal-organic helicates (MOHs) constructed through the self-assembly of anthracene-based aldehyde precursors, chiral amino precursors with different groups ((R/S)-1-phenylethanamine, (R/S)-1-(1-naphthyl)ethylamine, or (R/S)-1-(2-naphthyl)ethylamine), and Zn2+ ions. These helicates exhibit a chiral Zn2L3 architecture, which is confirmed by mass spectrometry, NMR spectroscopy, and theoretical calculations. Our work indicates that the conjugated extension and spatial arrangement of subcomponents can enhance the exciton coupling effect, thereby increasing the absorption asymmetry factor (gabs) and optimizing the chiroptical properties of MOHs. Compared with free ligands, the gabs values can be enhanced by up to 48-fold. This work provides valuable insights for designing tunable materials with tailored highly active chiroptical properties.
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