Self-assembled Möbius strips with controlled helicity

Guanghui Ouyang, Lukang Ji, Yuqian Jiang, Frank Würthner () and Minghua Liu ()
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Guanghui Ouyang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Lukang Ji: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Yuqian Jiang: Chinese Academy of Sciences, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology
Frank Würthner: Universität Würzburg, Am Hubland
Minghua Liu: Chinese Academy of Sciences

Nature Communications, 2020, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Different from molecular level topology, the development of supramolecular topology has been limited due to a lack of reliable synthetic methods. Here we describe a supramolecular strategy of accessing Möbius strip, a fascinating topological object featured with only a single edge and single side. Through bending and cyclization of twisted nanofibers self-assembled from chiral glutamate amphiphiles, supramolecular nano-toroids with various twist numbers were obtained. Electron microscopic techniques could clearly identify the formation of Möbius strips when twist numbers on the toroidal fibers are odd ones. Spectroscopic and morphological analysis indicates that the helicity of the Möbius strips and nano-toroids stems from the molecular chirality of glutamate molecules. Therefore, M- and P-helical Möbius strips could be formed from L- and D-amphiphiles, respectively. Our experimental results and theoretical simulations may advance the prospect of creating chiral topologically complex structures via supramolecular approach.

Date: 2020
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-19683-z

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