Chemical Mechanisms and Biological Effects of Chiral Nanomaterials

Abstract

Chirality exerts significant roles in biological systems and physiological processes; amino acids, sugars, peptides with multilevel structures, macromolecular proteins, and nucleic acids are all known to exhibit a single chiral structure. The characteristics of intrinsic chirality in a biological system determine the specificity of interactions between biomolecules and also influence a series of key processes in biological systems. Consequently, investigating chirality and the biogenesis of life is critical if we are to understand how the human body works. Although the influential role of chiral materials on biological processes has been investigated for several decades, the specific relationships between chirality and biological functionality have yet to be determined. In order to elucidate the specific role played by chirality in living processes, researchers have tended to focus on three essential aspects: (1) the origin of chirality and breaking the symmetry of life; (2) the amplification of chirality and the realization of high levels of homogeneous chirality in living systems, and (3) chirality transfer mechanisms in vivo.