Emergence of chirality and structural complexity in single crystals at the molecular and morphological levels.

ABSTRACT: Naturally occurring single crystals having a multidomain morphology are a counterintuitive phenonomon: the macroscopic appearance is expected to follow the symmetry of the unit cell. Growing such crystals in the lab is a great challenge, especially from organic molecules. We achieve here uniform metallo-organic crystals that exhibit single crystallinity with apparently distinct domains and chirality. The chirality is present at both the molecular and macroscopic levels, although only achiral elements are used. "Yo-yo"-like structures having opposite helical handedness evolve from initially formed seemingly achiral cylinders. This non-polyhedral morphology coexists with a continuous coordination network forming homochiral channels. This work sheds light on the enigmatic aspects of fascinati

SUBMITTER: di Gregorio MC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6971082 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature