Synthesis of phenylalanine and tartaric acid intercalated layered double hydroxide (LDH): Investigation of two kinds of chiral molecules interaction in interlayer space of LDH using solid-state vibrational circular dichroism

Recently, the applicability of solid-state vibrational circular dichroism (SD-VCD) for the evaluation of organoclay nanohybrids has attracted much attention. Herein, the intercalation of two kinds of chiral molecules, phenylalanine (Phe) and tartaric acid (Tart), into Zn-Al layered double hydroxide (LDH) was carried out by a standard coprecipitation method. The Phe/Tart/LDH was characterized by XRD, FT-IR, TG-DTA, and SD-VCD. The chemical composition and interlayer distance expansion of Phe/Tart/LDH indicated that Phe and Tart were intercalated into the LDH. The VCD and theoretical calculation results showed that Phe and Tart coexisted in the same interlayer space of LDH with the formation of electrostatic interaction and hydrogen bonding between Phe-Tart, LDH-Phe, and LDH-Tart. The results demonstrated the utility of the SD-VCD method for determining the detailed conformation of chiral molecules in the LDH interlayer space.