Pseudo-enantiomeric chiral components and formation of the helical micro- and nanostructures in charge-transfer complexes

Helical organic micro- and nanostructures are formed by a charge-transfer complex, cinchonidine-TCNQ. These unusual forms result from the chirality, the steric structure and specific interactions of cinchonidine molecules . The material is semi-conducting (10-4 S/cm), with the typical absorption spectra in IR and UV-VIS, but also a characteristic CD spectrum. Surprisingly, conductive micro- and nano helices are not formed in the case of pseudo- enantiomeric cinchonine, i.e. the complex of cinchonine and TCNQ.