Niu Xiaohui, Zhao Rui, Yan Simeng, Pang Zengwei, Li Hongxia, Yang Xing, Wang Kunjie
College of Petrochemical Technology, Lanzhou University of Technology, Lanzhou, 730050, P. R. China.
College of Polymer Science and Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610065, P. R. China.
Small. 2023 Sep;19(38):e2303059. doi: 10.1002/smll.202303059. Epub 2023 May 22.
Chirality is a universal phenomenon in molecular and biological systems, denoting an asymmetric configurational property where an object cannot be superimposed onto its mirror image by any kind of translation or rotation, which is ubiquitous on the scale from neutrinos to spiral galaxies. Chirality plays a very important role in the life system. Many biological molecules in the life body show chirality, such as the "codebook" of the earth's biological diversity-DNA, nucleic acid, etc. Intriguingly, living organisms hierarchically consist of homochiral building blocks, for example, l-amino acids and d-sugars with unknown reason. When molecules with chirality interact with these chiral factors, only one conformation favors the positive development of life, that is, the chiral host environment can only selectively interact with chiral molecules of one of the conformations. The differences in chiral interactions are often manifested by chiral recognition, mutual matching, and interactions with chiral molecules, which means that the stereoselectivity of chiral molecules can produce changes in pharmacodynamics and pathology. Here, the latest investigations are summarized including the construction and applications of chiral materials based on natural small molecules as chiral source, natural biomacromolecules as chiral sources, and the material synthesized by design as a chiral source.
手性是分子和生物系统中的一种普遍现象，它表示一种不对称的构型性质，即一个物体不能通过任何平移或旋转与它的镜像重合，这种现象从中微子到螺旋星系的尺度上无处不在。手性在生命系统中起着非常重要的作用。生物体内的许多生物分子都表现出手性，比如地球生物多样性的“密码本”——DNA、核酸等。有趣的是，生物体由同手性的构建模块分层组成，例如，左旋氨基酸和右旋糖，原因不明。当具有手性的分子与这些手性因素相互作用时，只有一种构象有利于生命的正向发展，也就是说，手性主体环境只能与一种构象的手性分子选择性地相互作用。手性相互作用的差异通常表现为手性识别、相互匹配以及与手性分子的相互作用，这意味着手性分子的立体选择性会在药效学和病理学上产生变化。在此，总结了最新的研究进展，包括基于天然小分子作为手性源、天然生物大分子作为手性源以及设计合成的材料作为手性源的手性材料的构建与应用。
