Chiral Solvation Induced Supramolecular Chiral Assembly of Achiral Polymers

Abstract

To date, liquid crystal chirality, mechanophysical chirality, circularly polarized photon chirality, gelation and chiral solvation are all feasible candidates to generate optically active polymers and supramolecular chirality when employing achiral molecules as starting substances. Among this, chiral-solvation-induced chirality is one of the dominant methods for construction of chirality from achiral sources, such as achiral poly(n-hexyl isocyanate) (PHIC), π-conjugated polymers, oligo(p-phenylenevinylene), polyacetylenes, σ-conjugated polysilanes and side-chain polymers. Supramolecular chirality is well established through their intra-or inter-molecular noncovalent interactions, such as van der Waals, CH/π, dipole-dipole interactions, hydrogen bonding and metal-ligand coordinating interactions. Compared with the traditional methods, this strategy avoids the use of expensive chiral reagents and also expands the scope towards challenging substrates. This chapter highlights a series of studies that include: (i) the development-historical background of chiral solvent induction strategy; (ii) the chiral-solvation-induced chirality in small molecules and oligomers; and (iii) recent developments in polymers, especially in π-conjugated polymers and σ-conjugated polymers.