Reppe Tino, Poppe Silvio, Cai Xiaoqian, Cao Yu, Liu Feng, Tschierske Carsten
Institute of Chemistry , Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg , Kurt-Mothes-Straße 2 , 06120 Halle , Germany . Email:
State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behaviour of Materials , Shaanxi International Research Center for Soft Matter , Xi'an Jiaotong University , Xi'an 710049 , P. R. China . Email:
Chem Sci. 2020 Apr 30;11(23):5902-5908. doi: 10.1039/d0sc01396j. eCollection 2020 Jun 21.
Benzil (diphenylethane-1,2-dione), which is a long known example for an achiral molecule crystallizing in a chiral space group, can also show mirror symmetry breaking in the fluid state if it is suitably functionalized. For some of the new benzil derivatives even three different subsequent mirror symmetry broken soft matter states with a chiral conglomerate structure can be observed. One is an isotropic liquid, the second one a cubic liquid crystal with a complex network structure and the third is a soft crystalline solid. Chirality develops by helical self-assembly combined with dynamic network formation, thus allowing macroscopic chirality synchronization. These achiral molecules, combining a transiently chiral bent core with multiple alkyl chains, provide a unique link between the mirror symmetry breaking phenomena observed for polycatenar and bent-core mesogens. The homogeneously chiral networks are of interest for application as chiral materials, and as templates for chiral recognition, separation and enantioselective catalysis.
联苯甲酰（二苯基乙烷 -1,2 -二酮）是一种长期以来已知的在手性空间群中结晶的非手性分子的例子，如果对其进行适当的官能化，在流体状态下也会表现出镜像对称性破缺。对于一些新的联苯甲酰衍生物，甚至可以观察到具有手性聚集体结构的三种不同的后续镜像对称性破缺的软物质状态。一种是各向同性液体，第二种是具有复杂网络结构的立方液晶，第三种是软结晶固体。手性通过螺旋自组装与动态网络形成相结合而发展，从而实现宏观手性同步。这些将瞬态手性弯曲核心与多个烷基链相结合的非手性分子，为在多链节和弯曲核心液晶元中观察到的镜像对称性破缺现象提供了独特的联系。均匀手性网络作为手性材料以及用于手性识别、分离和对映选择性催化的模板具有应用价值。
