Chirality controlled responsive self-assembled nanotubes in water

Chem Sci. 2017 Mar 1;8(3):1783-1789. doi: 10.1039/c6sc02935c. Epub 2016 Nov 17.

Abstract

The concept of using chirality to dictate dimensions and to store chiral information in self-assembled nanotubes in a fully controlled manner is presented. We report a photoresponsive amphiphile that co-assembles with its chiral counterpart to form nanotubes and demonstrate how chirality can be used to effect the formation of either micrometer long, achiral nanotubes or shorter (∼300 nm) chiral nanotubes that are bundled. The nature of these assemblies is studied using a variety of spectroscopic and microscopic techniques and it is shown that the tubes can be disassembled with light, thereby allowing the chiral information to be erased.