Institutes of Physical Science and Information Technology, Key Laboratory of Structure and Functional Regulation of Hybrid Materials of Ministry of Education, Anhui University, 230601, Hefei, P. R. China.
Nat Commun. 2023 Jun 22;14(1):3730. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-39462-w.
The investigation of chirality at the nanoscale is important to bridge the gap between molecular and macroscopic chirality. Atomically precise metal nanoclusters provide an ideal platform for this research, while their enantiopure preparation poses a challenge. Here, we describe an efficient approach to enantiopure metal nanoclusters via asymmetric transformation, that is, achiral Au(SCH) nanoclusters are converted into chiral and enantiopure Au(L)(SCH) nanoclusters by a chiral inducer phosphoramidite (L). Two enantiomers of Au(L)(SCH) are obtained and the crystal structures reveal their hierarchical chirality, which originates from the two introduced chiral L molecules, the transformation-triggered asymmetric rearrangement of the staple motifs on the surface of the gold core, and the helical arrangement of nanocluster molecules. The construction of this type of enantiomerically pure nanoclusters is achieved based on the easy-to-synthesize and modular L. Lastly, the chirality-related chiroptical performance was investigated, revealing a negative nonlinear CD-ee dependence.
研究纳米尺度的手性对于弥合分子和宏观手性之间的差距非常重要。原子精确的金属纳米团簇为此研究提供了理想的平台,而其对映纯的制备则构成了挑战。在这里,我们描述了一种通过不对称转化制备对映纯金属纳米团簇的有效方法,即通过手性诱导磷酰胺(L)将非手性 Au(SCH)纳米团簇转化为手性和对映纯的 Au(L)(SCH)纳米团簇。得到了两种对映体的 Au(L)(SCH),其晶体结构揭示了它们的分级手性,这源于两个引入的手性 L 分子、金核表面的基本结构单元的转化触发的不对称重排,以及纳米团簇分子的螺旋排列。这种对映纯纳米团簇的构建是基于易于合成和模块化的 L 来实现的。最后,研究了与手性相关的圆二色性性能,揭示了负的非线性 CD-ee 依赖性。