Chiral carbon nanostructures: a gateway to promising chiral materials

Abstract

Chirality is a widespread phenomenon in nature and plays an important role in the life sciences and materials science. Chiral recognition is the difference in interaction between a chiral host and chiral guest. In this case, nanomaterials are widely used in chiral-related fields. Among them, carbon nanomaterials are the most widely used and researched. Common carbon nanomaterials mainly include graphene, carbon nanotubes, graphene quantum dots, and fullerenes. The chirality of these carbon nanomaterials mainly originates from the carbon material itself or post-modified chiral molecules, and by combining chirality and carbon nanomaterials with the advantages of chirality, the materials not only have a chiral center, but also have better conductivity and biocompatibility. Therefore, the preparation of chiral carbon materials is of great significance in many fields, such as chemistry, biology, medicine, and pharmacy. Herein, the latest research progress on chiral carbon materials based on various carbon nanomaterials are reviewed, including the synthesis strategies and chiral sources of carbon-based chiral materials. Besides, the application of chiral carbon materials in sensors, disease treatment, asymmetric catalysis and chiral separation is summarized. Finally, we discuss the future challenges and prospects of chiral carbon materials.