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A strategy to obtain chiral silica using an achiral stereoregular polymer with polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) side chains is described herein. The preferred helical conformation of the POSS-containing polymer could be achieved by mixing isotactic polymethacrylate-functionalized POSS (it-PMAPOSS) and a chiral dopant. The array structure of POSS molecules, which are placed along the helical conformation, is memorized even after removing the chiral dopant at high temperatures, leading to a chiral silica compound with exclusive optical activity after calcination.

The formation of helical assemblies from achiral supramacromolecules has been a highly mysterious process, but is of interest for the generation of a variety of structures and properties. Herein, novel hierarchical superhelices are developed from self-assembly of achiral dendron-jacketed block copolymers (DJBCPs). The presence of focal asymmetry in both the stereochemistry of the dendrons (donors) and interactive binding sites of the copolymer chains (acceptors) plays a pivotal role in generating a spontaneous symmetry breaking through tailored donor–acceptor matching via hydrogen bonding. The focal asymmetry, on a scale of several nanometers, propagates to helical twists of the achiral DJBCP hierarchical assemblies over hundreds of nanometers, such that the primary molecular asymmetry sequentially triggers a secondary helical conformation of the dendron-jacketed blocks, then tertiary supramolecular helical assemblies and eventually quaternary superhelices. The helical twisting power of the superhelices is tunable using the dendron grafting ratio, indicating that the magnitude of helical twisting can be quantitatively adjusted from local to entire structures.

In this work, we introduce a facile method based on host–guest chemistry to synthesize a range of nanostructured TiO2 materials using supramolecular templates of a dendron-jacketed block copolymer (DJBCP). The DJBCP is composed of amphiphilic dendrons (4′-(3,4,5-tridodecyloxybenzoyloxy)benzoic acid, TDB) selectively incorporated into a P4VP block of polystyrene-block-poly(4-vinylpyridine) (PS-b-P4VP) via hydrogen bonding. The PS-b-P4VP host acts as a structure-directing template, while the guest molecules (TDB) assist the self-assembly nanostructures and zone-axis alignment, resulting in the nanostructured template of vertically oriented cylinders formed via successive phase transformations from Im3m to R3m to P6mm upon thermal annealing in the doctor-blade-cast film. The guest molecules subsequently direct the titania precursors into the P4VP domains of the templates via supramolecular guest exchange during immersion of the film in a designated precursor solution containing a P4VP-selective solvent. Th...

In this work, we introduce a facile method based on host-guest chemistry to synthesize a range of nanostructured TiO

The Communications, Tracking, and Radar Division at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the Space and Systems Development Lab (SSDL) at Stanford University are collaborating to fly a nanosat-class mission for costs usually associated with small technology development tasks, a few $100K. The mission hosts a JPL-developed Low Mass Radio Science Transponder (LMRST) on a university-class CubeSat bus as a satellite that occupies a total volume of two liters plus deployable antennas. In low earth orbit, the LMRST payload will provide a far-field source for calibration of Deep Space Network X-Band equipment in the form of an integer turnaround X-Band transponder with support for ranging modulation. The CubeSat bus provided by SSDL supplies power, structural support, and command and telemetry while on orbit. CubeSat development and operations are conducted as a student project.