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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0ACS Central Science

Two Better Than One: Emerging Chirality in Twisted Gold Nanorods

  • Mónica Paz-Insua1
  • Jordi Morales-Vidal2
  • Kyle Van Gordon3
  • Robin Girod4
  • Lucía Borrallo-López3
  • Sandra Baúlde1
  • Alejandro Criado1
  • Sara Bals4
  • Luis M. Liz-Marzán3,5,6,7
  • Núria López2
  • Jesús Mosquera1
7 affiliations
  1. 1Universidade da Coruña , , Campus de Elviña , ,
  2. 2Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ-CERCA) , , ,
  3. 3CIC biomaGUNE, Basque Research and Technology Alliance (BRTA) , ,
  4. 4University of Antwerp , , ,
  5. 5Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine (CIBER-BBN) , , ,
  6. 6Ikerbasque , ,
  7. 7Universidade de Vigo , , ,
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Abstract

Chemisorption-directed growth is the most common strategy for the synthesis of intrinsically chiral plasmonic nanoparticles. This approach relies on the use of thiolated chiral molecules, such as cysteine, which are assumed to transfer chirality by selectively adsorbing onto specific gold crystal facets during growth on preformed gold seeds. We found that chiral Au nanorods (AuNRs) synthesized using aged cysteine solutions exhibit significantly enhanced anisotropy factors compared to freshly prepared solutions, thus challenging the long-standing assumption of the key role of thiol ligands. Combining circular dichroism spectroscopy, electron tomography, and density functional theory simulations, we prove that cysteine is gradually oxidized into cystine and that this transformation is responsible for the enhanced chiroptical response. We therefore identify cystine, rather than cysteine, as the chiral inducer during AuNR chiral growth. Cystine’s ability to simultaneously coordinate two gold atoms enables a more efficient transfer of molecular chirality to the growing nanocrystal. This enhanced efficiency stems from its ability to directly fit the 3-point chirality model, thereby avoiding stochastic processes. These findings redefine the role of thiolated chiral molecules in chemisorption-directed growth and provide mechanistic insights for the rational design of more effective chirality inducers.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{pazinsua2026better,
  title = {{Two Better Than One: Emerging Chirality in Twisted Gold Nanorods}},
  author = {Mónica Paz-Insua and Jordi Morales-Vidal and Kyle Van Gordon and Robin Girod and Lucía Borrallo-López and Sandra Baúlde and Alejandro Criado and Sara Bals and Luis M. Liz-Marzán and Núria López and Jesús Mosquera},
  journal = {ACS Central Science},
  year = {2026},
  month = nov,
  doi = {10.1021/acscentsci.6c01321},
  url = {https://pubs.acs.org/acscii/article/doi/10.1021/acscentsci.6c01321/5466420/Two-Better-Than-One-Emerging-Chirality-in-Twisted},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Two Better Than One: Emerging Chirality in Twisted Gold Nanorods
AU  - Mónica Paz-Insua
AU  - Jordi Morales-Vidal
AU  - Kyle Van Gordon
AU  - Robin Girod
AU  - Lucía Borrallo-López
AU  - Sandra Baúlde
AU  - Alejandro Criado
AU  - Sara Bals
AU  - Luis M. Liz-Marzán
AU  - Núria López
AU  - Jesús Mosquera
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/11/09
JO  - ACS Central Science
DO  - 10.1021/acscentsci.6c01321
UR  - https://pubs.acs.org/acscii/article/doi/10.1021/acscentsci.6c01321/5466420/Two-Better-Than-One-Emerging-Chirality-in-Twisted
AB  - Chemisorption-directed growth is the most common strategy for the synthesis of intrinsically chiral plasmonic nanoparticles. This approach relies on the use of thiolated chiral molecules, such as cysteine, which are assumed to transfer chirality by selectively adsorbing onto specific gold crystal facets during growth on preformed gold seeds. We found that chiral Au nanorods (AuNRs) synthesized using aged cysteine solutions exhibit significantly enhanced anisotropy factors compared to freshly prepared solutions, thus challenging the long-standing assumption of the key role of thiol ligands. Combining circular dichroism spectroscopy, electron tomography, and density functional theory simulations, we prove that cysteine is gradually oxidized into cystine and that this transformation is responsible for the enhanced chiroptical response. We therefore identify cystine, rather than cysteine, as the chiral inducer during AuNR chiral growth. Cystine’s ability to simultaneously coordinate two gold atoms enables a more efficient transfer of molecular chirality to the growing nanocrystal. This enhanced efficiency stems from its ability to directly fit the 3-point chirality model, thereby avoiding stochastic processes. These findings redefine the role of thiolated chiral molecules in chemisorption-directed growth and provide mechanistic insights for the rational design of more effective chirality inducers.
SN  - 2374-7943
SN  - 2374-7951
ER  -