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Control over the emerging chirality in supramolecular gels and solutions by chiral microvortices in milliseconds.

Jiashu SunYike LiFusheng YanChao LiuYutao SangFei TianQiang FengPeng-Fei DuanLi ZhangXinghua ShiBaoquan DingMinghua Liu
Published in: Nature communications (2018)
The origin of homochirality in life is a fundamental mystery. Symmetry breaking and subsequent amplification of chiral bias are regarded as one of the underlying mechanisms. However, the selection and control of initial chiral bias in a spontaneous mirror symmetry breaking process remains a great challenge. Here we show experimental evidences that laminar chiral microvortices generated within asymmetric microchambers can lead to a hydrodynamic selection of initial chiral bias of supramolecular systems composed of exclusively achiral molecules within milliseconds. The self-assembled nuclei with the chirality sign affected by the shear force of enantiomorphic microvortices are subsequently amplified into almost absolutely chirality-controlled supramolecular gels or nanotubes. In contrast, turbulent vortices in stirring cuvettes fail to select the chirality of supramolecular gels. This study reveals that a laminar chiral microflow can induce enantioselection far from equilibrium, and provides an insight on the origin of natural homochirality.
Keyphrases
  • capillary electrophoresis
  • ionic liquid
  • water soluble
  • mass spectrometry
  • energy transfer
  • magnetic resonance
  • molecular dynamics simulations
  • computed tomography