Chiral Polyaniline Hollow Nanotwists toward Efficient Enantioselective Separation of Amino Acids

Controllable fabrication of complex chiral nanostructures of functional materials from achiral systems remains a great challenge. Herein, polyaniline (PANI) hollow nanotwists as complex chiral nanostructures have been prepared by chemical oxidation of aniline in an achiral HCl/isopropyl alcohol/water mixed solvent. The chiral oligoaniline twisted nanoribbons generated at the early reaction stage have been established to act as reactive sacrificial templates for inducing the growth of PANI hollow nanotwists. Single-handed PANI hollow nanotwists achieved by tuning the alcohol content in the solvent have been applied to separate several chiral amino acids from their racemic mixtures with high performance, indicating their high potential for enantioselective separation applications.