Multistep hierarchical self-assembly of chiral nanopore arrays

Significance Bent-core mesogenic molecules form smectic liquid crystal phases in which the molecular layers are locally polar and chiral, and have a built-in tendency for saddle splay curvature, a combination that fills bulk neat bent-core smectics with self-assembled helical nanofilament bundles of twisted layers. This observation led us to explore the growth mode of such smectics under conditions of nanoconfinement and the remarkable observation reported here that single nanofilaments readily grow in linear nanoscale pores, generating a new motif of hierarchically self-assembled hybrid organic/inorganic structures for applications in chiral synthesis and separation.