Enantioselective destruction of chiral molecules

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10611752-B2
Application number	US-201715446855-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 1, 2017
Priority date	Mar 1, 2016
Publication date	Apr 7, 2020
Grant date	Apr 7, 2020

Abstract

Methods and devices are disclosed for selective photo-destruction of one chiral enantiomer of a compound using nanostructures by enhancing differential absorption of circularly polarized light by the one chiral enantiomer. Methods and devices are disclosed for selective enrichment of one chiral enantiomer of a compound using nanostructures by enhancing differential absorption of circularly polarized light by the one chiral enantiomer. The nanostructures support optical frequency electric resonances and optical frequency magnetic resonances.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for selective photolysis of one chiral enantiomer of a compound, the method comprising:
providing a solution comprising two chiral enantiomers of the compound;
adding a nanostructure to the solution;
irradiating the solution with a circularly polarized light in the IR range of the electromagnetic spectrum; and
exposing the solution to a local electric field and a local magnetic field, such that the circularly polarized light is differentially absorbed by the one chiral enantiomer, thereby achieving the selective photolysis of the one chiral enantiomer of the compound.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the nanostructure supports optical frequency electric resonances and optical frequency magnetic resonances.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the nanostructure is excited with the circularly polarized light, thereby causing interference between the optical frequency electric resonances and optical frequency magnetic resonances.

4. The method of claims 3 , wherein a differential absorption of the circularly polarized light by the one chiral enantiomer and a rate of differential absorption of the circularly polarized light by the one chiral enantiomer are enhanced.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the differential absorption of the circularly polarized light by the one chiral enantiomer is enhanced about 17-fold to about 510-fold.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein a rate of differential absorption of the circularly polarized light by the one chiral enantiomer is enhanced about 2-fold to about 21-fold.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the nanostructure is provided as an array or as a suspension.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the nanostructure is a nanosphere, nanocylinder, nanoplate, nanoshell, nanorod, nanorice, nanofiber, nanowire, nanopyramid, nanoprism, nanostar, nanocrescent, nanoring, nanoantenna, or a combination thereof.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein a size of the nanostructure ranges from about 1 nm to about 10,000 nm.

10. A method for selective enrichment of one enantiomer a chiral compound, the method comprising:
providing a solution comprising two chiral enantiomers of the compound;
adding a nanostructure to the solution;
irradiating the solution with a circularly polarized light in the IR range of the electromagnetic spectrum; and
exposing the solution to a local electric field and a local magnetic field, such that the circularly polarized light is differentially absorbed by the one chiral enantiomer, resulting in the selective photolysis of the one chiral enantiomer of the compound, thereby achieving enrichment of one enantiomer a chiral compound.

Assignees

• Univ Leland Stanford Junior

Inventors

• Dionne Jennifer Anne
• Ho Chi-Sing
• Garcia Echarri Aitzol Imanol

Classifications

• C07C51/487

  by treatment giving rise to chemical modification (by chemisorption C07C51/47) · CPC title

• C07C45/85

  by treatment giving rise to a chemical modification (by chemisorption C07C45/79) · CPC title

• C07C213/10

  Separation; Purification; Stabilisation; Use of additives · CPC title

• C07B2200/07

  Optical isomers · CPC title

• C07D211/34

  with hydrocarbon radicals, substituted by carbon atoms having three bonds to hetero atoms with at the most one bond to halogen, e.g. ester or nitrile radicals · CPC title