For the first time, they achieved asymmetric (chiral) living polymerization of optically active polyisocyanides using liquid crystals with chiral (mirror-image isomer) structures as a solvent.

These are highly chiral liquid crystals. Credit: Nature Communications (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-50935-4 The team used extensive particle-based simulations to demonstrate that achiral hard ...

In chiral crystals, the arrangement of atoms gives them a specific “handedness,” which can influence their optical and electrical behaviors. However, not all crystals are naturally chiral.

These are highly chiral liquid crystals. A research team has discovered that achiral hard banana-shaped particles can spontaneously form exotic structures like skyrmions and blue phase III phases.

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Optical spectroscopy now reveals how these crystals melt at higher densities via an intermediate phase, where crystalline and liquid regions coexist. Controlling qubit–phonon interactions is ...