Chiral Silica with Preferred-Handed Helical Structure via Chiral Transfer.

A strategy to obtain chiral silica using an achiral stereoregular polymer with polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) side chains is described herein. The preferred helical conformation of the POSS-containing polymer could be achieved by mixing isotactic polymethacrylate-functionalized POSS (it-PMAPOSS) and a chiral dopant. The array structure of POSS molecules, which are placed along the helical conformation, is memorized even after removing the chiral dopant at high temperatures, leading to a chiral silica compound with exclusive optical activity after calcination.