Control The Handedness Of Silica Nanostructures

Since 2004, helical and chiral mesoporous materials attracted many researchers, which are potential to be applied in the fields of chiral catalysis, chiral separation, and chiral optical materials. Here, helical and chiral mesoporous materials in both nano- and molecular scale were developed. First, aromatic rings were introduced to the walls of single-handed helical silica nanotubes. It is interesting to find that the aromatic rings pack in helix. Second, single-handedly branched mesoporous silica nanoribbons were prepared. The mechanism of the formation of the branched nanostructures was studied using transmission electron microscope. It is hard to control this branched nanostructure using other methods. These branched nano-materials are possible to be applied in the fields of electronics and photonics. Third, handedness inversion phenomenon was found, when the silica nanostructures were controlled using the self-assemblies of an L-aniline derivate as templates. This phenomenon is helpful to reveal the relationship between the secondary and tertiary structures of proteins which is the hot topic of drug synthesis. Finally, other silica nanostructures were controlled using the self-assemblies of other amino acid derivates.