HELICAL POLYMERS AND OLIGOMERS: FROM SINGLE HELIX TO DOUBLE HELIX

Unique macromolecules and oligomers that fold into a preferred-handed single- and double-stranded helical conformation induced by chiral substituents covalently bonded to the main-chains as the pendant groups or external chiral stimuli followed by memory of the helical chirality are presented. The direct observations of helical structures of artificial helical polymers by atomic force microscopy (AFM) will be also presented. A series of double helices composed of different components and sequences that exhibit specific functions, such as chirality sensing, chiral recognition, enantioselective asymmetric catalysis, and anisotropic spring-like motion are also described.