Work

A mirror-image experiment: Sorting carbon nanotubes by L-DNA

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: DNA has found increasing applications in molecular engineering, yet its chiral property has rarely been utilized. Here, we report a mirror-image experiment using naturally occurring D-DNA and its enantiomer L-DNA to sort a chiral mixture of single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). We find that parity conservation leads to a robust experimental outcome: changing DNA chirality results in handedness inversion of the purified nanotube. This finding provides a straightforward solution to the challenging problem of nanotube enantiomer sorting and a materials foundation for applications in fields such as spintronics and chiral sensing. To illustrate the latter, we show that enantiomeric pairs of DNA-SWCNTs can serve as bilateral chiral gauges for quantifying the degree of molecular chirality.

Source: PNAS Nexus

DOI: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgaf013

Authors: Ming Zheng, Ruojie Sha

Institutions: National Institute of Standards and Technology, New York University

Language: English

Topic: Carbon Nanotubes in Composites

Subfield: Materials Chemistry

Field: Materials Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $4,202

Funders: National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Office of Naval Research