α-Helix-Driven Regulation of Aqueous Circularly Polarized Luminescence in Homopolypeptide Self-Assembly

Abstract

Biopolymer-driven supramolecular chirality in aqueous media has gained significant advancements in hierarchical chiral nanostructures. However, researches on the aqueous circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) induced by supramolecular self-assembly and its mechanism have been rarely reported. Herein, we explore the hierarchical chirality transfer in self-assembled fluorescent homopolypeptide systems showing aqueous CPL, and unveil an α-helix-dominated CPL regulation mechanism. A relationship is established between molecular structure (degree of polymerization, DP), supramolecular assembly (self-assembly temperature, T_SA), and resulting CPL properties. The stabilization for the homopolypeptide α-helix by increasing DP and decreasing T_SA enables efficient chirality transfer from the polypeptide backbone to its terminal chromophore, thereby improving CPL properties. Our work elucidates the critical role of α-helix control in aqueous CPL systems, providing insights for designing biocompatible and tunable CPL-active nanomaterials.

Keywords

aqueous circularly polarized luminescence / chiral homopolypeptide / self-assembly / α-helix

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2025 The Author(s). Aggregate published by SCUT, AIEI, and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.