Stirring competes with chemical induction in chiral selection of soft matter aggregates

Abstract

Chirality, the absence of mirror symmetry, can be equally invoked in relation to physical forces and chemical induction processes, yet a competition between these two types of influence is rarely reported. Here we present a self-assembled soft matter system in which chiral selection is controlled by the combined independent action of a chiral dopant and vortical stirring, which are arbitrarily coupled, either constructively or destructively. In the latter case, perfect compensation, that is, absence of a net chiral effect, is realized. The induced enantiomorphic excess is measured in terms of the statistical imbalance of an ensemble of submillimetre domains, where achiral molecules self-assemble with a well-defined orientational chirality that is unambiguously resolved using optical microscopy. The possibility of combining top-down and bottom-up strategies to induce a chiral predominance in a supramolecular system of achiral components should be recognized as a new twist in the process of chiral recognition, selection and control. © 2012 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.