10.1021/jacs.7b10981
The research focuses on the direct detection of hidden chirality in hydrocarbons and deuterated isotopomers, which are challenging to detect using conventional optical spectroscopic methods. The experiments utilize a helical polyacetylene, poly-1, bearing 2,2’-biphenol derived pendants that exhibit circular dichroism in response to the subtle chirality of saturated tertiary or chiroptical quaternary hydrocarbons and deuterated isotopomers. The polyacetylene forms an excess one-handed helix induced by the chiral molecules, significantly amplifying and memorizing the chirality, which allows for the storage of chiral information as a single-handed helix memory over time. The study involves the measurement of circular dichroism (CD) and absorption spectra of poly-1 in various chiral hydrocarbons as solvents, and the analysis of the induced CD (ICD) to determine the absolute configurations and enantiomeric excess (ee) of the chiral hydrocarbons and isotopomers. The experiments demonstrate that poly-1 is highly sensitive to minute chirality, enabling the direct visualization of hidden chirality by CD spectroscopy for the first time.