Cascading chirality from molecule to twisted microstructures with amplified circularly polarized luminescence
Control of chiral assembly across length scales is desirable but challenging. Herein, we demonstrate controllable construction of microscopic chiral twists through hierarchical assembly of enantiomeric styrylpyridinium-derived glutamide amphiphiles (L/D-SPG). By combining variable-temperature spectroscopy with in-situ real-time optical microscopic observation, the dynamic chirality transfer process across spatial and length scales during assembly is elucidated. It is revealed that hydrophobic interactions between alkyl chains and intermolecular hydrogen bonds dominate the initial assembly of SPG oligomers, which subsequently elongate into microscopic twists through synergistic action of multiple non-covalent bonds under stereochemical control. The coherent cross-length-scale chirality transfer drives a dramatic amplification of chiroptical signals, evolving from undetectable circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) in the monomeric state and weak CPL with a small luminescence dissymmetry factor (|g<sub>lum</sub> | = 2.8 × 10<sup>-3</sup>) in the non-hierarchical nanostructures to a |g<sub>lum</sub>| value of 0.11 among single-component supramolecular gel systems. This work not only provides a direct spatiotemporal observation of chirality transfer from molecular to micron scales, but also establishes a supramolecular design strategy for high-performance CPL materials through optimized hierarchical organization.
Authors
- Runjia Wang
- Minghua Liu
- Han-Xiao Wang
- Ying Pan
- Tao Wang
Institutions
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (CN)
- Institute of Chemistry (CN)
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2026-01-16
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-68494-1
- Primary Topic
- Synthesis and Properties of Aromatic Compounds
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Chinese Academy of Sciences