Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto per lo Studio dei Materiali Nanostrutturati, Italy.
Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Biologiche, Farmaceutiche ed Ambientali, University of Messina, and C.I.R.C.M.S.B., V.le F. Stagno D'Alcontres 31, Vill. S. Agata, 98166 Messina, Italy.
Sci Rep. 2017 Mar 9;7:44094. doi: 10.1038/srep44094.
Chirality is one of the most intriguing properties of matter related to a molecule's lack of mirror symmetry. The transmission of chirality from the molecular level up to the macroscopic scale has major implications in life sciences but it is also relevant for many chemical applications ranging from catalysis to spintronic. These technological applications require an accurate control of morphology, homogeneity and chiral handedness of thin films and nanostructures. We demonstrate a simple approach to specifically transfer chirality to the model supramolecular system of J aggregates of the protonated form of tetrakis(4-sulfonatophenyl)-porphyrin by utilizing a soft lithography technique. This approach successfully allows the fabrication of an ordered distribution of sub-micrometric structures in precise and controllable positions with programmed chirality, providing a fundamental breakthrough toward the exploitation of chiral supramolecular aggregates in technological applications, such as sensors, non-linear optics and spintronic.
手性是物质最有趣的特性之一，与分子缺乏镜像对称有关。手性从分子水平传递到宏观尺度在手性科学中具有重要意义，但在从催化到自旋电子学等许多化学应用中也很重要。这些技术应用需要对薄膜和纳米结构的形态、均一性和手性进行精确控制。我们展示了一种简单的方法，通过利用软光刻技术将手性特异性地传递到质子化形式的四(4-磺酸钠苯基)卟啉 J 聚集体的模型超分子系统中。这种方法成功地允许在精确和可控的位置以预定的手性制造亚微米结构的有序分布，为在手性超分子聚集体在技术应用中的利用方面取得了根本性突破，例如传感器、非线性光学和自旋电子学。
