Spontaneous Induction and Amplification of Macroscopic Homochirality in Isotropic Liquid and Liquid Crystals

各向同性液体和液晶中宏观同手性的自发诱导和放大

• 批准号: EP/T003294/1
• 负责人: Xiangbing Zeng
• 金额: $ 50.65万
• 依托单位: University of Sheffield
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2020 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FT003294%2F1
• 关键词: Spontaneous; Induction; Amplification; Macroscopic; Homochirality

Recently it was discovered that macroscopic chirality, i.e. left- or right-handedness, can be achieved in some cubic liquid crystal phases and even in isotropic liquid from molecules that are not chiral. Despite the huge scientific and industrial implications of the discovery, we are still at an early stage of understanding the origin of these remarkable phenomena. The aim of this project is to identify the molecular and structural basis for spontaneous long-range chirality propagation even in a liquid, and to achieve them by molecular design. We will also investigate how these systems act as chirality amplifiers using small amounts of chiral dopants, and how new complex nanoscale structures can be obtained by breaking the symmetry of non-chiral structures through the introduction of chiral centres. Furthermore, we aim to demonstrate how the recent discoveries can be utilized for applications e.g. in enantioselective membranes and in chiro-optics for potential use e.g. in high-contrast displays and optical communication.

最近发现，在一些立方液晶相中，甚至在各向同性液体中，非手性分子可以实现宏观手性，即左手性或右手性。尽管这一发现具有巨大的科学和工业意义，但我们仍处于了解这些非凡现象的起源的早期阶段。该项目的目的是确定即使在液体中自发长程手性传播的分子和结构基础，并通过分子设计来实现它们。我们还将研究这些系统如何使用少量手性掺杂剂充当手性放大器，以及如何通过引入手性中心打破非手性结构的对称性来获得新的复杂纳米级结构。此外，我们的目标是展示如何将最近的发现用于应用，例如：在对映选择性膜和手性光学中的潜在用途，例如用于高对比度显示器和光通信。

项目成果

Observation of a frustrated nematic phase in amphiphilic, disc-like complexes of gold(III) containing hydrocarbon and semiperfluorocarbon terminal chains

• DOI: 10.1080/02678292.2021.1991017
• 发表时间: 2021-12-05
• 期刊: LIQUID CRYSTALS
• 影响因子: 2.2
• 作者: Parker, Rachel R.;McEllin, Alice J.;Bruce, Duncan W.
• 通讯作者: Bruce, Duncan W.

The statistics of the ordering of chiral ribbons on a honeycomb lattice

• DOI: 10.1088/1742-5468/ac1263
• 发表时间: 2021-05
• 期刊: Journal of Statistical Mechanics: Theory and Experiment
• 作者: Maxine M. McCarthy;William S. Fall;X. Zeng;G. Ungar;G. Gehring

Self-organisation of rhombitruncated cuboctahedral hexagonal columns from an amphiphilic Janus dendrimer

• DOI: 10.1080/00268976.2021.1902586
• 发表时间: 2021-03
• 期刊: Molecular Physics
• 影响因子: 1.7
• 作者: N. Huang;Qi Xiao;M. Peterca;X. Zeng;V. Percec

Supramolecular Networks: Helical Networks of p-Conjugated Rods - A Robust Design Concept for Bicontinuous Cubic Liquid Crystalline Phases with Achiral Ia 3¯ d and Chiral I 23 Lattice (Adv. Funct. Mater. 45/2020)

超分子网络：p 共轭棒的螺旋网络 - 具有非手性 Ia 3 d 和手性 I 23 晶格的双连续立方液晶相的鲁棒设计概念（Adv. Funct. Mater. 45/2020）

• DOI: 10.1002/adfm.202070298
• 发表时间: 2020
• 期刊: Advanced Functional Materials
• 影响因子: 19
• 作者: Dressel C