Supramolecular tilt chirality in crystals of steroids and alkaloids

Vibrational Circular Dichroism Spectroscopy of Chiral Molecular Crystals: Insights from Theory

Chirality is a curious phenomenon that appears in various forms. While the concept of molecular (RS-)chirality is ubiquitous in chemistry, there are also more intricate forms of structural chirality. One of them is the enantiomorphism of crystals, especially molecular crystals, that describes the lack of mirror symmetry in the unit cell. Its relation to molecular chirality is not obvious, but still an open question, which can be addressed with chiroptical tools. Vibrational circular dichroism (VCD) denotes chiral infrared (IR) spectroscopy that is susceptible to both, the molecular as well as the intermolecular space by means of vibrational transitions. When carried out in the solid state, VCD delivers a very rich set of non-local contributions that are determined by crystal packing and collective motion. Since its discovery in the 1970s, VCD has become the method of choice for the determination of absolute configurations, but its applicability reaches beyond towards the study of different crystal forms and polymorphism. This brief review summarises the theoretical concepts of crystal chirality and how computations of solid-state VCD can shed light into the intimate connection of chiral structure and vibrational optical activity.

Chirality-Induced Spin-Orbit Coupling, Spin Transport, and Natural Optical Activity in Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Perovskites

Hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites (HOIPs) with chiral organic ligands exhibit highly spin-dependent transport and strong natural optical activity (NOA). Here we show that these remarkable features can be traced to a chirality-induced spin-orbit coupling (SOC), H_so = ατk_zσ_z, which connects the carrier's spin (σ_z), its wave vector (k_z), and the material's helicity (τ) along the screw direction with strength α controlled by the geometry of the organic ligands. This SOC leads to a macroscopic spin polarization in the presence of an electrical current and is responsible for the observed spin-selective transport. NOA originates from a coupling between the exciton's center-of-mass wave vector K_z and its circular polarization j_z^ex, H_so^' = α'τK_zj_z^ex, contributed jointly from the electron's and the hole's SOCs in an exciton. Our model provides a roadmap to achieve a strong and tunable chirality in HOIPs for novel applications utilizing carrier spin and photon polarization.

Linkage control between molecular and supramolecular chirality in 2₁-helical hydrogen-bonded networks using achiral components

Chiral molecules preferentially form one-handed supramolecular assemblies that reflect the absolute configuration of the molecules. Under specific conditions, however, the opposite-handed supramolecular assemblies are also obtained because of flexibility in the bond length and reversibility of non-covalent interactions. The mechanism of the handedness selectivity or switching phenomenon remains ambiguous, and most phenomena are observed by chance. Here we demonstrate the construction of chiral hydrogen-bonded twofold helical assemblies with controlled handedness in the crystalline state based on crystallographic studies. Detailed investigation of the obtained crystal structures enabled us to clarify the mechanism, and the handedness of the supramolecular chirality was successfully controlled by exploiting achiral factors. This study clearly reveals a connection between molecular chirality and supramolecular chirality in the crystalline state.

Supramolecular chirality in crystalline assemblies of bile acids and their derivatives; three-axial, tilt, helical, and bundle chirality

Steroidal bile acids and their derivatives exhibit characteristic inclusion behaviors in the crystalline state. Their crystals present varied assemblies due to asymmetric molecular structures, which relate to supramolecular properties through cooperative weak interactions. An overview indicates that the steroidal assemblies lie in an intermediate position among various molecules and have hierarchical structures such as primary, secondary, tertiary, and host-guest assemblies like proteins. Such an interpretation brought about the idea that the assemblies with dimensionality present supramolecular chirality such as three-axial, tilt, helical, bundle, and complementary chirality. This concept of the supramolecular chirality enables us to understand formation of chiral crystals starting from the molecular chirality of the steroidal molecules.