Induction of preferential helical screw senses in optically inactive polysilanes via chiral solvation

Communication: Two optically active solvents were synthesised, (S)-(-)-2-methyl-1-propoxybutane and (S)-(-)-(2-methylbutoxymethyl)benzene. The main chain conformations of poly(methylphenylsilane) and poly(hexylmethylsilane) in these solvents were investigated using optical UV-visible and circular dichroism spectroscopy. It was observed that dissolving these inherently achiral polysilanes in optically active solvent induces the polymer chains to adopt preferred helical screw senses. This is the first example of induction of optical activity in conjugated polymers through chiral solvation