Chiroptical Activity in All-Inorganic Intrinsically Chiral Perovskite-like Nanocrystals Synthesized via Enantioselective Strategy

Enantiomeric control of intrinsically chiral inorganic nanocrystals (NCs), despite being reported in few systems over the past years, still remains a challenging task. Here, we succeeded in the enantioselective synthesis of intrinsically chiral perovskite-like CsCuCl3 NCs in the presence of chiral amino acids using an antisolvent crystallization method at room temperature. The D-/L-ligand-induced enantiomeric NCs showed the relevant characteristic chiroptical responses. Interestingly, under the addition of each D- or L-form of the ligand, the chiroptical activity of the NCs could be tailored through facilely tuning the Cs/Cu feed ratios and amino acid types. The polarity of such amino acids and their coordination configurations with the NC structures contributed to the distinct behaviors. The ability to manipulate the ligand-induced enantioselective strategy would open pathways for the controllable synthesis of intrinsically chiral inorganics and enable a better understanding of the origins of precursor-ligandassociated chiral discrimination and crystallization phenomena.

Automated summary

In this study, enantioselective synthesis of intrinsically chiral CsCuCl3 nanocrystals was achieved using chiral amino acids as ligands through an antisolvent crystallization method at room temperature. The chiroptical activity of the nanocrystals could be tailored by adjusting the Cs/Cu feed ratios and amino acid types upon addition of D- or L-form ligands. The polarity of the amino acids and their coordination configurations with the nanocrystal structures played important roles in determining the chiroptical responses.