Abstract
The chirality of (nano)structures is paramount in many phenomena, including biological processes, self-assembly, enantioselective reactions, and light or electron spin polarization. In the quest for new chiral materials, metallo-organic hybrids have been attractive candidates for exploiting the aforementioned scientific fields. Here, we show that chiral carbon nanoparticles, called carbon nanodots, can be readily prepared using hydrothermal microwave-assisted synthesis and easily purified. These particles, with a mean particle size around 3 nm, are highly soluble in water and display mirror-image profile both in the UV–Vis and in the infrared regions, as detected by electronic and vibrational circular dichroism, respectively. Finally, the nanoparticles are used as templates for the formation of chiral supramolecular porphyrin assemblies, showing that it is possible to use and transfer the chiral information. This simple (and effective) methodology opens up exciting opportunities for developing a variety of chiral composite materials and applications.
Highlights
The chirality ofstructures is paramount in many phenomena, including biological processes, self-assembly, enantioselective reactions, and light or electron spin polarization
We report the synthesis of chiral carbon nanodots (CNDs), carbon nanoparticles characterized by sizes below 10 nm and fascinating fluorescence properties[24,25,26]
We show that CNDs can form supramolecular complexes with chromophores and that the chirality can be transferred, which highlights the emergence of novel possibilities
Summary
The chirality of (nano)structures is paramount in many phenomena, including biological processes, self-assembly, enantioselective reactions, and light or electron spin polarization. The concept of introducing chirality in graphene quantum dots was recently applied by covalently attaching chiral moieties to their edges[22,23] This elegant approach has produced graphene-based materials capable of interacting with cells[22] or other molecules[23] depending on the stereoisomer of the attached moieties, a novel methodology is needed to fully combine carbon nanomaterials with chiroptical properties. We report the synthesis of chiral carbon nanodots (CNDs), carbon nanoparticles characterized by sizes below 10 nm and fascinating fluorescence properties[24,25,26] They possess finer properties such as inexpensive and safe nature, and could substitute the conventional semiconductor NPs, generally considered superior fluorescent materials[27,28,29]. We show that CNDs can form supramolecular complexes with chromophores (porphyrins) and that the chirality can be transferred, which highlights the emergence of novel possibilities
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