Topological-skeleton controlled chirality expression of supramolecular hyperbranched and linear polymers

Xin Song, Xuefeng Zhu, Hao Yao, Weili Shang, Cong Du, Wensheng Lu, Minghua Liu, Wei Tian

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

The topology of polymers plays an essential role in their chemical, physical and biological properties. However, their effects on chirality-related functions remain unclear. Here, we reported the topology-controlled chirality expression in the chiral supramolecular system for the first time. Two topological supramolecular polymers, hyperbranched (HP) and linear (LP) supramolecular polymers produced by the host–guest interactions of branched and linear monomers, respectively, exhibited completely different chirality expressions despite the same molecular chirality of their monomers. Significantly, due to the branch points and strong steric hindrance existing in HP, cis-HP showed an enhanced and sign-inverted Cotton effect in the n–π* bands compared with cis-LP, as a result that the distinctive chirality induction and transfer were controlled by the topological skeletons. This topology-controlled chirality induction and transfer in the photoswitchable supramolecular polymers not only enables us to elucidate the in-depth effects of topology on the chiral expression in biopolymers but also inspires the design of chiroptical and bioinspired materials.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)422-428
Number of pages7
JournalFundamental Research
Volume2
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - May 2022

Keywords

  • Host–guest interaction
  • Photoisomerization
  • Supramolecular chirality
  • Supramolecular polymer
  • Topological skeleton

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