Chiral Silica with Preferred-Handed Helical Structure via Chiral Transfer

JACS Au. 2021 Apr 1;1(4):375-379. doi: 10.1021/jacsau.1c00098. eCollection 2021 Apr 26.

Abstract

A strategy to obtain chiral silica using an achiral stereoregular polymer with polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) side chains is described herein. The preferred helical conformation of the POSS-containing polymer could be achieved by mixing isotactic polymethacrylate-functionalized POSS (it-PMAPOSS) and a chiral dopant. The array structure of POSS molecules, which are placed along the helical conformation, is memorized even after removing the chiral dopant at high temperatures, leading to a chiral silica compound with exclusive optical activity after calcination.