Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences
Tohoku University

Helix is an important structure of materials at the molecular-level and bulk-level, as exemplified by DNA and plant vines. Development of functions of helix-materials has great potentials to solve social issues in various fields, such as creation of medicines and development of functional materials. Properties of helix-materials, however, have not been well known, because of the lack of preparation method. The aim of my research is to explore the properties of helical substances and to develop helix-based functional materials by interdisciplinary approach, which is based on synthetic organic chemistry.

1,12-Dimethylbenzo[c]phenanthrene, a helical molecule called “helicene”, is used in this work. This molecule has a helically twisted -plane containing fused four benzene rings, which can possess mirror-imaged right- and left-handed chiral structures. Two subjects are underway using the helicene: (1) To develop functional helicene molecules and to investigate the interactions with biological molecules and organs. (2) To develop bulk materials using helical oligomers containing the helicenes, which exhibit muscle-like motional function based on the spring-like molecular structural change between double helices and random coils. In order to integrate the molecular-level motion to the macroscopic motion and to realize a large contraction-extension motion like a muscle, methods to construct ordered, anisotropic, and flexible self-assembled systems are investigated.