Chirality on Hierarchical Self‐Assembly of Au@AuAg Yolk–Shell Nanorods into Core–Satellite Superstructures for Biosensing in Human Cells

Here, Au@AgAu yolk–shell nanorods (YSNRs) with tunable plasmonic circular dichroism (PCD) responses are synthesized, for the first time, using chiral d‐ or l‐penicillamine. The concentration of chiral molecules and the nanogap size play key roles in the PCD signal of the YSNRs. Importantly, the PCD response could be regulated by changing the aspect ratio of gold nanorods, and the largest anisotropy factor (g‐factor) is 0.009. Remarkably, the YSNRs are used as new chiroptical building blocks together with Au nanoparticles (NPs) to build YSNR@NP core–satellite (CS) assemblies, which display much stronger PCD intensity and an increased g‐factor of 0.021. The theoretical calculation data demonstrate that the significant PCD activity of nanoassemblies is originated from chiral structures and the intrinsic chirality of the building blocks. Noticeably, the developed CS superstructures with photothermal effects are utilized to quantitatively detect zinc ion in living cell lines. This study reports an emerging class of chiral inorganic nanostructures with important future applications, including enantioselective separation, asymmetric catalysis, and biomedical sensing.