Lost in translation? Chirality effects in the self-assembly of nanostructured gel-phase materials

Abstract

Gel-phase materials are generated when molecular building blocks assemble into nanoscale architectures, usually ‘one-dimensional’ fibrils, which hierarchically assemble into bundles and subsequently form an entangled sample spanning network, capable of preventing the flow of bulk solvent. This tutorial review explores the vital role of chirality in gel formation. In particular, we focus on how fundamental self-assembly processes can translate molecular scale chiral information into nanoscale architectures, and then into the macroscopic behaviour of the gel. Chiral molecular gels have potential applications in nanofabrication and as addressable functional nanomaterials.