Abstract

In this review, we exploit recent investigations to identify the exceptional roles of amino acids and peptides in chirality, based on local atomic conformation to macroscopic chiral morphology.

Highlights

  • Chirality, one of the key features in living organisms, can be found from the molecular level, such as in DNA and peptide structures, to the macroscopic level, such as in seashells, snails, and even flowers

  • Recent studies have shown that achiral inorganic materials and metals, according to the crystallographic point group, can develop chiral morphologies that are precisely controlled by the amino acids and peptides

  • The molecular understanding of which was first conceptualized by Louis Pasteur in 1848.1 This significant paper was published in Annales de Chimie et de Physique and was translated as ‘‘the relations that may exist between the crystalline form, the chemical composition and the direction of the polarization’’

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Summary

Introduction

One of the key features in living organisms, can be found from the molecular level, such as in DNA and peptide structures, to the macroscopic level, such as in seashells, snails, and even flowers. Beyond molecular and organic chirality, a lot of new opportunities exist in controlling the chirality of electrons, which include the spin, and the chirality of the electromagnetic wave, which is polarization These scientific impacts can be extended to spintronics, quantum devices and metamaterials, resulting in new applications. For this expansion from molecular chirality to other physical phenomena, the fundamental challenges are (1) how chiral-selective interaction can be achieved at different scales between dissimilar media, (2) how chirality can be transferred from molecules to macroscopic features, and (3) how chiral matter can manipulate photons and spin, having the wave-particle duality. We concentrate our attention on the exceptional roles of amino acids and peptides on (1) the interaction between organic molecules and inorganic surfaces, (2) the reconstruction of the local atomic conformation, and (3) the macroscopic evolution of chiral morphology

Chirality in inorganic and metal crystals
Chirality generated by local distortion
Chiral morphology
Chiral morphology evolution in inorganic materials
Interaction between peptide-based materials and plasmonic nanoparticles
Chiral morphology evolution in plasmonic materials
Findings
Conclusions

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