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Updated: Jun 5, 2026
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Published on: February 6, 2020
Ladderization: A Powerful Strategy for Controlling Supramolecular Helical Ordering, Amplifying Asymmetry, and
Tomoyuki Ikai1,2, Koki Nishino1, Nichito Kawabata1
1Department of Molecular and Macromolecular Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan.
Small (Weinheim an Der Bergstrasse, Germany)
|June 4, 2026
Summary
Chiral ladder polymers exhibit strong circular dichroism and circularly polarized luminescence due to helical ordering. This effect is amplified by solvent vapor and can be tuned, showing potential for advanced optical materials.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Polymer Chemistry
- Organic Electronics
Background:
- Optically active polymers are crucial for chiral technologies.
- Achieving ordered supramolecular structures in conjugated polymers remains a challenge.
- Circular dichroism (CD) and circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) are key chiroptical properties.
Purpose of the Study:
- To synthesize optically-active π-conjugated coplanar ladder polymers.
- To investigate the role of the ladder framework in inducing chiral aggregation and chiroptical properties.
- To enhance and tune the CPL of these materials.
Main Methods:
- Synthesis of enantiopure chiral ladder polymers and achiral analogues.
- Spectroscopic analysis including CD and CPL measurements.
- Thin film fabrication and solvent vapor annealing.
- Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) studies.
Main Results:
- Chiral ladder polymers exhibited significant CD and CPL, unlike linear precursors.
- Solvent vapor exposure enhanced CPL, achieving a luminescence dissymmetry factor > 0.1 via cholesteric ordering.
- High CPL intensity was maintained with up to 75 mol% achiral analogue, demonstrating asymmetry amplification.
- CPL color tuning was achieved via FRET to achiral ladder polymers.
Conclusions:
- The coplanar ladder framework is essential for forming well-ordered supramolecular chiral aggregates.
- Solvent vapor annealing is an effective method to enhance CPL in chiral polymer films.
- These chiral ladder polymers show promise for applications in circularly polarized light emission and sensing.
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