Langmuir, Vol.31, No.21, 5748-5757, 2015
Chiroptical Vesicles and Disks That Originated from Achiral Molecules
We report a chiral get: of vesicles and, disklike micelles that originated from achiral molecules The supramolecular chirality was obtained via regulating pH, hi which a sol gel sol transition in a colloidal system consisting of a gelator, 4,4-di(2,3,dicarboxylphenoxyl)-azobenzene (AzoNa(4)), and a zwitterionic surfactant, tetradecyldimethylamine oxide (C(14)DMAO), happened. The supramolecular chirality was related to the state of aggregation, i.e., only the condensed gels show chiral sense and sols are chiral silent The coexistence of vesicles and disklike micelles was captured for the first time in supramolecular chiral hydrogels by cryo- and freeze fracture transmission electron microscopy (cryo- and FF-TEM) observations. Ascribed to the photoisomerization of the azobenzene units,,upon,alternative UV/visible light irradiation; the gel chirality can be switched reversibly with the Macroscopic changes between vesicles/disks and wormlike micelles. A pH- and light-dual-responsive chiroptical switch can be constructed which, may require understanding the regulating membrane permeability and reagent release of structural transformation through photo-isomerization and also require understanding the origin of gelation induced supramolecular chirality completely based on achiral molecules.