Spontaneous Induction and Amplification of Macroscopic Homochirality in Isotropic Liquid and Liquid Crystals

最近，人们发现，宏观手性，即左手或右手，可以实现在一些立方液晶相，甚至在各向同性液体从分子不是手性。尽管这一发现具有巨大的科学和工业意义，但我们仍处于了解这些非凡现象起源的早期阶段。本项目的目的是确定即使在液体中也能自发长距离手性传播的分子和结构基础，并通过分子设计实现它们。我们还将研究这些系统如何使用少量的手性掺杂剂作为手性放大器，以及如何通过引入手性中心打破非手性结构的对称性来获得新的复杂的纳米级结构。此外，我们的目标是展示如何利用最近的发现，例如在对映选择性膜和手性光学的潜在用途，例如在高对比度显示器和光通信的应用。

Recently it was discovered that macroscopic chirality, i.e. left- or right-handedness, can be achieved in some cubic liquid crystal phases and even in isotropic liquid from molecules that are not chiral. Despite the huge scientific and industrial implications of the discovery, we are still at an early stage of understanding the origin of these remarkable phenomena. The aim of this project is to identify the molecular and structural basis for spontaneous long-range chirality propagation even in a liquid, and to achieve them by molecular design. We will also investigate how these systems act as chirality amplifiers using small amounts of chiral dopants, and how new complex nanoscale structures can be obtained by breaking the symmetry of non-chiral structures through the introduction of chiral centres. Furthermore, we aim to demonstrate how the recent discoveries can be utilized for applications e.g. in enantioselective membranes and in chiro-optics for potential use e.g. in high-contrast displays and optical communication.