Unraveling the Role\nof Structural Topology on Chirality\nTransfer and Chiroptical Properties in Chiral Germanium Iodides

Chiral hybrid organic–inorganic metal halides\nare highly\npromising chiroptoelectronic materials with potential applications\nin several fields, such as circularly polarized photodetectors, second-order\nnonlinear optics, and spin-selective devices. However, the ability\nof manipulating the chiroptical response and the chirality transfer\nfrom the organic ligands require one to shed light on structure–property\ncorrelations. Herein, we devised and prepared two novel Ge-based chiral\nhybrid organic–inorganic metal halides showing a different\nstructural topology, namely, a 1D and a 2D arrangement, but composed\nof the same chemical building blocks: (<i>R</i>/<i>S</i>-ClMBA)<sub>3</sub>GeI<sub>5</sub> and (<i>R</i>/<i>S</i>-ClMBA)<sub>2</sub>GeI<sub>4</sub>. Through a\ncombined experimental and computational investigation on these samples,\nwe discuss the impact of structural dimensionality on chiroptical\nproperties, chirality transfer, and spin-splitting effects; also,\nwe highlight the impact of structural distortions. The approach presented\nhere paves the way for a solid understanding of the factors affecting\nthe properties of chiral metal halides, thus allowing a future wise\nmaterials engineering.