Effects of shape and solute-solvent compatibility on the efficacy of chirality transfer: Nanoshapes in nematics

Abstract

Chirality, as a concept, is well understood at most length scales. However, quantitative models predicting the efficacy of the transmission of chirality across length scales are lacking. We propose here a modus operandi for a chiral nanoshape solute in an achiral nematic liquid crystal host showing that that chirality transfer may be understood by unusually simple geometric considerations. This mechanism is based on the product of a pseudoscalar chirality indicator and of a geometric shape compatibility factor based on the two-dimensional isoperimetric quotients for each nanoshape solute. The model is tested on an experimental set of precisely engineered gold nanoshapes. These libraries of calculated and in-parallel acquired experimental data among related nanoshapes pave the way for predictive calculations of chirality transfer in nanoscale, macromolecular, and biological systems, from designing chiral discriminators and enantioselective catalysts to developing chiral metamaterials and understanding nature’s innate ability to transfer homochirality across length scales.