Imparting chiral optical properties to Au nanowires via growth in the presence of chiral thiol compounds

Abstract This study demonstrates a method for imparting chiroptical properties to Au nanowires (NWs) via seed-mediated growth in the presence of chiral thiol compounds. Au NWs with 2.7 nm diameter were synthesized in aqueous solutions containing an amidoamine derivative and L- or D-cysteine. The circular dichroism spectra of the resulting dispersions confirmed that the seed-mediated growth of Au NWs in the presence of chiral thiol compounds imparted chiroptical properties, whereas achiral thiol compounds were ineffective at imparting chirality.