Molecular Engineering of Helical Nanoribbons

几个世纪以来，螺旋结构一直激励着艺术家、设计师、工程师和科学家，因为在螺旋结构中，手性以高度对称的方式表达，自然吸引眼球。螺旋碳烯是一类有趣的手性螺旋分子（邻位稠合苯环），自世纪以来在化学上有着丰富的历史。多环芳烃，特别是，一直寻求的目标，以诱导螺旋手性。π共轭主链的螺旋扭曲通常可以相当显著地改变电子性质，甚至导致新的意想不到的性质。具体来说，螺旋纳米带将为期待已久的螺旋烯化学研究开辟新的方向。本研究旨在探索自下而上合成精确且对映体纯的螺旋分子，这些分子自1955年首次合成[6]螺旋烯以来一直备受关注。螺旋骨架的自下而上合成和化学修饰的概念是新颖的，它为未来的创新应用奠定了基础。对“螺旋分子”的研究和合成工程的提出将导致一类新的拓扑材料，可用作下一代半导体材料。这些具有电荷/自旋注入基团的官能化螺旋聚合物将打开大门，以进一步调整其光电性能，电荷/自旋输运具有巨大的范围，可用于电子和自旋电子学应用。

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.