{"685737":{"#nid":"685737","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Researchers Discover Spontaneous Chirality in Conjugated Polymers","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThis story is shared with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/chbe.illinois.edu\/news\/stories\/researchers-discover-spontaneous-chirality-conjugated-polymers\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003Enewsroom\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E. John R. Reynolds is a professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry and School of Materials Science and Engineering at Georgia Tech. He served as founder of the Georgia Tech Polymer Network (GTPN) and is a member of the Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics (COPE).\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EChirality, a property where structures have a distinct left- or right- \u201chandedness,\u201d allows natural semiconductors to move charge and convert energy with high efficiency by controlling electron spin and the angular momentum of light. A new study has revealed that many conjugated polymers, long considered structurally neutral, can spontaneously twist into chiral shapes. This surprising behavior, overlooked for decades, could pave the way for development of a new class of energy-efficient electronics inspired by nature.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe research, a collaborative project that included researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of North Carolina, and Purdue University was recently published in the \u003Cem\u003EJournal of the American Chemical Society\u003C\/em\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cMany molecules essential to life are chiral,\u201d said\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/chbe.illinois.edu\/people\/profile\/yingdiao\u0022\u003EYing Diao\u003C\/a\u003E, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Illinois, who led the project. \u201cThe question that has remained a really a big fascination across the field is how chiral symmetry breaking happens in the first place: that is how life selects one handedness over the other. Our work mainly focuses on the origin of chirality: why chirality spontaneously emerges in absence of any chiral sources.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo answer this question, the team tested 34 different conjugated polymers. Each polymer was dissolved in a solvent, then the researchers gradually increased the polymer concentration to observe whether liquid\u2013liquid phase separation (LLPS) occurred. When LLPS was detected, they used circular dichroism spectroscopy to analyze the samples, revealing a strong correlation between phase separation and the emergence of chirality. The researchers refer to this phenomenon as \u003Cstrong\u003Espontaneous chiral symmetry breaking.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThey found that approximately two-thirds of the polymers spontaneously formed chiral structures when their concentration in the solution increased.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThat took our community by surprise, because conjugated polymers have been studied for half a century,\u201d Diao said. \u201cThese new chiral helical states of matter have basically been hiding in plain sight.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo understand why some of the polymers developed chirality while others did not, Illinois chemistry professor and senior co-author\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/chemistry.illinois.edu\/jacksonn\u0022\u003ENicholas E. Jackson\u003C\/a\u003E applied machine learning to analyze molecular features across the polymer library. The analysis, later backed up by additional testing, revealed that polymers with longer molecular chains were more likely to form chiral assemblies. Unexpectedly, the researchers also found that the presence of oxygen atoms in the side chains was a strong predictor of chiral behavior.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cMachine learning uncovered hidden patterns across dozens of conjugated polymers, relating subtle chemical details to chiral phase formation,\u201d Jackson said. \u201cSuch insights would have been very difficult to derive by human intuition alone.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDiao noted that the discovery not only deepens our fundamental understanding of chiral emergence but also holds significant technological promise. In nature, chiral systems \u2013 such as those involved in photosynthesis \u2013 enable highly efficient electron transport. Looking ahead, Diao said that mimicking this behavior could lead to major performance gains in electronic devices and innovation of new device types.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe are thinking about using chirality to control conductivity \u2013 for example, in transparent conductors for phones or in solar cells that could be more stable and efficient,\u201d she said. \u201cIn our computers, electrons bounce around and heat is a big problem. But if we make chiral versions, we think charge transfer could be extremely efficient, just like in nature.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWhat\u2019s nice about this is, this is not the end of the story,\u201d said Georgia Institute of Technology chemistry professor\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/chemistry.gatech.edu\/people\/john-reynolds\u0022\u003EJohn Reynolds\u003C\/a\u003E, a senior co-author on the study. \u201cThis work provides guidance to polymer scientists in the field for studying the many, many conjugated polymers that have been synthesized over the years, and for designing new polymers with enhanced properties.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThis study was supported by the U.S. Office of Naval Research, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Molecule Maker Lab Institute, and the National Science Foundation. Polymers for the study were provided by Reynolds, University of North Carolina chemistry professor\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/chem.unc.edu\/faculty\/you-wei\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EWei You\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E, University of Illinois chemistry professor\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/chemistry.illinois.edu\/jsmoore\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EJeff Moore\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E, and Purdue University chemistry professor\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.chem.purdue.edu\/people\/profile\/meij\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EJianguo Mei\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EIn addition to her appointment in\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/chbe.illinois.edu\/directory\/profile\/jacksonn\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EChemical \u0026amp; Biomolecular Engineering\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E,\u0026nbsp;Diao is a full-time faculty member at the\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/beckman.illinois.edu\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EBeckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E, holds a faculty appointment with\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/chemistry.illinois.edu\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EChemistry\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u0026nbsp;in the\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/las.illinois.edu\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003ECollege of Liberal Arts \u0026amp; Sciences\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E,\u0026nbsp;and is affiliated with\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/matse.illinois.edu\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EMaterials Science \u0026amp; Engineering\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u0026nbsp;in\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/grainger.illinois.edu\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThe Grainger College of Engineering\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E. In addition to his appointment in Chemistry, Jackson is a group leader at the\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/beckman.illinois.edu\/research\/molecular-science-and-engineering-research-theme\/artificial-intelligence-for-materials\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EBeckman Institute\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E and affiliate faculty member in the departments of\u0026nbsp;Chemical \u0026amp; Biomolecular Engineering and Materials Science \u0026amp; Engineering.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThe paper, \u0022Ubiquitous Chiral Symmetry Breaking of Conjugated Polymers via Liquid Liquid Phase Separation,\u0022 is available online at \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/pubs.acs.org\/doi\/abs\/10.1021\/jacs.5c07995\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003Ehttps:\/\/pubs.acs.org\/doi\/abs\/10.1021\/jacs.5c07995\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"A surprising behavior, overlooked for decades, could pave the way for development of a new class of energy-efficient electronics inspired by nature."}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA new study reveals that many conjugated polymers, long considered structurally neutral, can spontaneously twist into chiral shapes. This surprising behavior, overlooked for decades, could pave the way for development of a new class of energy-efficient electronics inspired by nature. Collaborative findings across University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Georgia Tech, University of North Carolina, and Purdue University are published in the \u003Cem\u003EJournal of the American Chemical Society\u003C\/em\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"A surprising behavior, overlooked for decades, could pave the way for development of a new class of energy-efficient electronics inspired by nature."}],"uid":"34528","created_gmt":"2025-10-16 14:23:35","changed_gmt":"2025-10-28 20:19:32","author":"jhunt7","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-10-16T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-10-16T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"678364":{"id":"678364","type":"image","title":"Tiny helices emerge during a phase separation process, offering clues about how life\u0027s building blocks may have first developed a preference for one \u0027handed\u0027 form over another.\u00a0(Credit: Jong-Hoon Lee, Ziming Wang, Ying Diao)","body":"\u003Cp\u003ECertain materials can spontaneously form spiral-shaped structures, even when they start out without any \u0027handedness.\u0027 These tiny helices emerge during a phase separation process, offering clues about how life\u0027s building blocks may have first developed a preference for one \u0027handed\u0027 form over another.\u0026nbsp;(Credit: Jong-Hoon Lee, Ziming Wang, Ying Diao)\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1760624659","gmt_created":"2025-10-16 14:24:19","changed":"1760624659","gmt_changed":"2025-10-16 14:24:19","alt":"Tiny helices emerge during a phase separation process, offering clues about how life\u0027s building blocks may have first developed a preference for one \u0027handed\u0027 form over another.\u00a0(Credit: Jong-Hoon Lee, Ziming Wang, Ying Diao)","file":{"fid":"262382","name":"images_large_ja5c07995_0007.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/10\/16\/images_large_ja5c07995_0007.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/10\/16\/images_large_ja5c07995_0007.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":45287,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/10\/16\/images_large_ja5c07995_0007.jpeg?itok=VS3wxxZm"}}},"media_ids":["678364"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/chbe.illinois.edu\/news\/stories\/researchers-discover-spontaneous-chirality-conjugated-polymers","title":"University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign"}],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"85951","name":"School of Chemistry and Biochemistry"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"188020","name":"go-rbi"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193652","name":"Matter and Systems"},{"id":"39491","name":"Renewable Bioproducts"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jess@cos.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJess Hunt-Ralston\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EDirector of Communications\u003Cbr\u003ECollege of Sciences at Georgia Tech\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo reach Ying Diao: \u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:yingdiao@illinois.edu\u0022\u003Eyingdiao@illinois.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jess@cos.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}