Self-Assembly of 1D Helical Nanostructures into Higher Order Chiral Nanostructures in Supramolecular Systems

Chirality and hierarchy are two important aspects of biological systems. Investigation of the hierarchical self-assembly of chiral supramolecular nanostructures leads not only to biomimics but also provides deep understanding of the self-assembly and function in biological systems. While it is generally well-known how small molecules can self-assemble into nanostructures like chiral nanofibers, nanobelts, nanotubes and nanotwists, it is still less frequently investigated how these nanostructures can be further assembled into higher ordered chiral nanostructures. In this review, we mainly focus on how these 1D helical nanostructure can be further assembled into higher ordered or complex chiral nano/microstructures such as nanospirals, super-nanohelices, helical nanotubes, nanoflowers, toroids, microflowers, microtubular flowers and dendritic chiral nanotwists. Moreover, some applications including asymmetric catalysis, cell adhesion, chiral optics and chiral recognition based on these nanostructures are discussed.