Cellulose Concurrently Induces Predominantly One-Handed Helicity in Helical Polymers and Controls the Shape of Optically Active Particles Thereof

Alkynylated carboxymethylcellulose (A-CMC) was used to construct optically active helical polymer microparticles (spherical and spindle-like) through suspension polymerization of achiral acetylic monomer. Taking advantage of the “sergeant and soldiers rule”, the chirality of A-CMC effectively transferred to the resulting helical polymers, thus inducing the latter to form predominantly one-handed screw sense and endowing the microparticles with optical activity. Simply adjusting the stirring speed in suspension polymerizations provided spherical and spindle-like microparticles. The microparticles were assembled by small spheres, under the guidance of oriented A-CMC macromolecular chains depending on stirring rate. The spherical and spindle microparticles demonstrated different enantio-differentiating release process due to their varied shape. A-CMC concurrently plays three roles in the present study: as stabilizing agent and chiral source for fabricating chiral helical polymer particles and as template for adjusting the particles’ shape. The study provides new approaches to utilize biomacromolecules as chiral source for developing novel chiral bioconjugated materials.