Insight into the drying-mediated and thioether bond activated chiral inversion assembly of nano building blocks

Abstract

Supramolecular materials are typically obtained from a solvent environment, while the assembled nano-structures always affected and unpredictably changed by irreversible evaporation of solvents, which brings great challenges for the precise controlling of assembled structures. Herein, a drying-mediated and thioether bond activated chiral inversion assembly behavior of organic/inorganic nano-building blocks polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) was investigated. The POSS was modified by eight methylated terminal cysteine, while the existence of thioether bond could capture the hydrogen bonds belonging to amide groups during drying process, resulting in weaken of the inter-molecular hydrogen bonds and displacing the stacking of the nano-building blocks, which activates the forming of super-helical structures opposite to the original chirality. This research reveals the solvent-induced chiral assembly principle of the giant molecules and helpful for the construction of the precise architecture.