Synthesis of amino acid block-copolymer imprinted chiral mesoporous silica and its acoustically-induced optical Kerr effects

Chiral mesoporous SiO2 (CMS) have been synthesized and studied the Acoustically-Induced Optical Kerr Effects (AIOKE) and the results have been compared with non-chiral mesoporous silica. The CMS with controllable pore sizes (of similar to 3 nm) and high surface areas of ca. 650 m(2)g(-1) was synthesized by mimicking the intrinsic chirality of the amino acid block copolymers. The chiral mesoporous materials were characterized through HRTEM, BET, small-angle XRD, Si-29-NMR and circular dichroism. AIOKE measurements have been performed using an Er:glass 20 ns laser with a 10 Hz frequency repetition. The optimal AIOKE results of the CMS were achieved for 9.7% of the chromophore in the matrices. We found that the AIOKE for the CMS mimicked with chiral block copolymers is quite high compared to the non-chiral SiO2. A difference in AIOKE for these two compounds is observed, enabling CMS that can be used for the design of the acoustically-operated quantum electronic devices. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.