Technical terms: The proposed project aims to utilize achiral metallic or semiconductor nanoparticles (NPs) to enhance and modulate circular dichroism (CD) signal of chiral biomolecules. CD is the preferred technique for detection and analysis of chiral compounds and their interactions. Significant enhancement of the sensitivity of CD spectroscopy coupled with the ability to shift CD signals to longer wavelengths will allow examining structures of biological molecules as well as supramolecular biorecognition phenomena at biologically relevant concentrations with minimal amount of unwanted overlaps. The enhanced sensitivity and modularity is anticipated to rise from the electronic coupling between achiral NPs and chiral molecules in their proximity. We will prepare achiral NPs functionalized with chiral molecules and study their structure and experimental CD characteristics. We will perform theoretical simulations of CD spectra to gain detailed structural and mechanistic insights into the origins of induced CD in metallic and semiconductor NPs capped with chiral biomolecules. This is the first time that the achiral metallic and semiconductor NPs will be designed and optimized to specifically enhance CD of chiral molecules. The project will further enhance our understanding of the origin of induced chiroptical activity in achiral metallic and semiconductor NPs and will have an immediate impact on the fields of biosensing and chiroptical nanomaterials.
Layman terms: Circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy allows to detect chiral biomolecules and study their interactions. The project will develop novel methods that enhance the sensitivity and resolution of CD detection by utilizing metallic or semiconductor particles of nanometer size as potent amplifiers of CD signal. Enhanced signal detection will be strongly beneficial for the detection and study of low concentration and complex mixture of biologically active molecules that are difficult to explore by current methods.
