Gold-Nanoparticle-Based Chiral Plasmonic Nanostructures and Their Biomedical Applications

As chiral antennas, plasmonic nanoparticles (NPs) can enhance chiral responses of chiral materials by forming hybrid structures and improving their own chirality preference as well. Chirality-dependent properties of plasmonic NPs broaden application potentials of chiral nanostructures in the biomedical field. Herein, we review the wet-chemical synthesis and self-assembly fabrication of gold-NP-based chiral nanostructures. Discrete chiral NPs are mainly obtained via the seed-mediated growth of achiral gold NPs under the guide of chiral molecules during growth. Irradiation with chiral light during growth is demonstrated to be a promising method for chirality control. Chiral assemblies are fabricated via the bottom-up assembly of achiral gold NPs using chiral linkers or guided by chiral templates, which exhibit large chiroplasmonic activities. In describing recent advances, emphasis is placed on the design and synthesis of chiral nanostructures with the tuning and amplification of plasmonic circular dichroism responses. In addition, the review discusses the most recent or even emerging trends in biomedical fields from biosensing and imaging to disease diagnosis and therapy.

Selenocystine and Photo-Irradiation Directed Growth of Helically Grooved Gold Nanoarrows

The fabrication of discrete nanostructures with both plasmonic circular dichroism (PCD) and chiral features is still a challenge. Here, gold nanoarrows (GNAs) with both chiroptical responses and chiral morphologies are achieved by using L-selenocystine (L-SeCys₂ ) as a chiral inducer. While L-SeCys₂ generates GNAs with a weak PCD signal, the irradiated L-SeCys₂ (irr-L-SeCys₂ ) leads to GNAs with featured helical grooves (HeliGNAs) accompanying with a strong PCD signal. It is revealed that when L-SeCys₂ is photo-irradiated, the emergence of selenyl radicals plays an important role in the formation of HeliGNAs and enhancement of the chiroptical signal. In comparison with L-SeCys₂ and the other kinds of sulfur-containing amino acids, the formation mechanism of helical grooves on the surface of GNAs is proposed. Both HeliGNAs and GNAs are used to discriminate amino acids by utilizing surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) effect. In the presence of either GNAs or HeliGNAs as the substrate, Fmoc-L-Phe shows more significant SERS than Fmoc-D-Phe. This study may advance the design of discrete plasmonic nanomaterials with both chiral morphology and potential applications in discrimination of chiral molecules.

Plasmon-Enhanced Optical Chirality through Hotspot Formation in Surfactant-Directed Self-Assembly of Gold Nanorods

Plasmonically enhanced optical dichroism has attracted substantial interest for its application in optical sensing, where the interplay between chirality emanating from both molecules and plasmon-supporting structures has been regarded as a critical ingredient. Here, we experimentally demonstrate that suitably self-assembled achiral plasmonic nanostructures produce a high degree of enhancement in the optical dichroism observed from chiral molecules placed in their vicinity. Specifically, we identify a near-field enhancement associated with plasmonic hotpots as the mechanism enabling our observation of visible-NIR circular dichroism emanating from small amounts of chiral molecules. Our structures consist of linear arrays of gold nanorods obtained by introducing chiral anionic surfactants, such as modified bile salts, which lead to selective destabilization of a cetyltrimethylammonium bromide coating layer on Au nanorods, thereby promoting a tip-to-tip oriented assembly. The proposed mechanism of plasmonically-enhanced circular dichroism is supported by deriving a simple, yet general theoretical formalism that confirms the observed results, revealing the role of optical hotspots at the gaps of linear tip-to-tip nanorod assemblies as the origin of enhancement in the dichroism from chiral molecules. Importantly, it is the refractive rather than the absorption-mediated chiral response of the molecules that produces dichroism in the visible-NIR plasmonic regime, far from their UV absorption resonances. The observed self-assembly mechanism suggests that chiral analytes not directly interacting with the nanorod surfaces, but just able to induce tip-to-tip aggregation, can be revealed by a CD signature in the plasmonic region, thereby supporting potential applications in ultrasensitive analysis.

Circular Dichroism of Chiral Molecules in DNA-Assembled Plasmonic Hotspots

The chiral state of a molecule plays a crucial role in molecular recognition and biochemical reactions. Because of this and owing to the fact that most modern drugs are chiral, the sensitive and reliable detection of the chirality of molecules is of great interest to drug development. The majority of naturally occurring biomolecules exhibit circular dichroism (CD) in the UV range. Theoretical studies and several experiments have demonstrated that this UV-CD can be transferred into the plasmonic frequency domain when metal surfaces and chiral biomolecules are in close proximity. Here, we demonstrate that the CD transfer effect can be drastically enhanced by placing chiral molecules, here double-stranded DNA, inside a plasmonic hotspot. By using different particle types (gold, silver, spheres, and rods) and by exploiting the versatility of DNA origami, we were able to systematically study the impact of varying particle distances on the CD transfer efficiency and to demonstrate CD transfer over the whole optical spectrum down to the near-infrared. For this purpose, nanorods were also placed upright on DNA origami sheets, forming strong optical antennas. Theoretical models, demonstrating the intricate relationships between molecular chirality and achiral electric fields, support our experimental findings. From both experimental measurements and theoretical considerations, we conclude that the transferred CD is most intensive for systems with strong plasmonic hotspots, as we find them in relatively small gaps (5-12 nm) between spherical nanoparticles and preferably between the tips of nanorods.

Reversible Plasmonic Circular Dichroism via Hybrid Supramolecular Gelation of Achiral Gold Nanorods

The fabrication of chiroptical plasmonic nanomaterials such as chiral plasmonic gold nanorods (GNRs) has been attracting great interest. Generally, in order to realize the plasmonic circular dichroism (PCD) from achiral GNRs, it is necessary to partially replace the surface-coated cetyltrimethylammonium bromide with chiral molecules. Here, we present a supramolecular approach to generate and modulate the PCD of GNRs through the hybrid gelation of GNRs with an amphiphilic chiral dendron gelator. Upon gelation, the PCD could be produced and further regulated depending on the ratio of the dendrons to GNRs. It was revealed that the wrapping of the self-assembled nanofibers around the GNRs is crucial for generating the PCD. Furthermore, the hybrid gel underwent a thermotriggered gel-sol and sol-gel transformation, during which the PCD can disappear (solution) and reappear (gel), respectively, and such process can be repeated many times. In addition, the hybrid gel could also undergo shrinkage upon addition of a slight amount of Mg²⁺ ions, during which the PCD disappeared also. Thus, through the gel formation and subsequent metal ion- or temperature-triggered phase transition, PCD can be reversibly modulated. The results not only clarified the generation mechanism of PCD from the achiral GNRs without the chiral modification on the surface but also offered a simple and efficient way to modulate the PCD.