Molecular Engineering of Helical Nanoribbons

几个世纪以来，螺旋建筑一直启发着艺术家、设计师、工程师和科学家，因为在螺旋建筑中，手性以一种高度对称的方式表达出来，自然地吸引着眼睛。碳螺烯是一类有趣的手性和螺旋分子(邻位稠合苯环)，自20世纪初以来在化学上有着丰富的历史。尤其是多环芳烃，一直是人们寻找的诱导螺旋手性的靶标。Pi-共轭骨架的螺旋扭曲通常可以相当戏剧性地改变电子性质，甚至导致新的意想不到的性质。具体地说，螺旋纳米带将为人们期待已久的螺旋烯化学进入铺平新的方向。本研究旨在探索自1955年首次合成[6]螺烯以来备受追捧的精确的、对映体纯的螺旋分子的自下而上合成。提出的自下而上合成和化学修饰螺旋背骨的概念是新颖的，它为建立未来创新应用的基础提供了更多的方向。提出的螺旋分子的研究和合成工程将导致一类新的拓扑材料，这些材料可以作为下一代半导体材料。这些带有电荷/自旋注入基团的功能化螺旋聚合物将打开大门，进一步调整其光电性质，电荷/自旋输运在电子和自旋电子应用中具有巨大的应用前景。

Helical architectures have inspired artists, designers, engineers and scientists for centuries, because in helices, chirality is articulated in a highly symmetric fashion that appeals naturally to the eye. Carbohelicenes belong to a class of intriguing, chiral, and helicoidal molecules (ortho-fused benzene rings), which have a rich history in chemistry since the beginning of the 20th century. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, in particular, are ever-sought targets to induce helical chirality. Helical twisting of a pi-conjugated back-bone can often quite dramatically alter the electronic properties, or even lead to new unexpected properties. Specifically, helical nanoribbons will pave new directions to long awaited entry in to the helicene's chemistry. This research aims to explore the bottom-up synthesis precise and enantiomerically pure helical molecules which are highly sought molecules since the first synthesis of [6]helicene in 1955. The proposed concept of bottom-up synthesis and chemical modification of helical back-bone is novel and it provides many more directions for setting-up the basis for future innovative applications. The proposed research and synthetic engineering of "helical molecules" will lead to new class of topological materials which can be used as next generation semiconductor materials. These functionalized helical polymers with charge/spin injecting groups will open the door to further tune their opto-electronic properties, charge/spin transport with enormous scope to be used in electronic and spintronic applications.