Issue 15, 2023

Wireless electrochemical actuation of soft materials towards chiral stimuli

Abstract

Different areas of modern chemistry, require wireless systems able to transfer chirality from the molecular to the macroscopic event. The ability to recognize the enantiomers of a chiral analyte is highly desired, since in the majority of cases such molecules present different physico-chemical properties that could lead, eventually, to dangerous or harmful interactions with the environment or the human body. From an electrochemical point of view, enantiomers have the same electrochemical behavior except when they interact in a chiral environment. In this Feature Article, different approaches for the electrochemical recognition of chiral information based on the actuation of conducting polymers are described. Such a dynamic behavior of π-conjugated materials is based on an electrochemically induced shrinking/swelling transition of the polymeric matrix. Since all the systems, described so far in the literature, are achiral and require a direct connection to a power supply, new strategies will be presented in the manuscript, concerning the implementation of chirality in electrochemical actuators and their use in a wireless manner through bipolar electrochemistry. Herein, the synergy between the wireless unconventional actuation and the outstanding enantiorecognition of inherent chiral oligomers is presented as an easy and straightforward read out of chiral information in solution. This approach presents different advantages in comparison to classic electrochemical systems such as its wireless nature and the possible real-time data acquisition.

Graphical abstract: Wireless electrochemical actuation of soft materials towards chiral stimuli

Article information

Article type
Feature Article
Submitted
05 Dec. 2022
Accepted
25 Janv. 2023
First published
25 Janv. 2023
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Commun., 2023,59, 2072-2080

Wireless electrochemical actuation of soft materials towards chiral stimuli

S. Arnaboldi, Chem. Commun., 2023, 59, 2072 DOI: 10.1039/D2CC06630K

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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