Control over the chirality of (R)-1,1'-bi-2-naphthol dibenzoate in nanoparticles

Nanoparticles of (R)-1,1′-bi-2-naphthol dibenzoate (R-BND) ranging from 40 to 170 nm were prepared by using the reprecipitation method. The nanoparticles exhibit size-dependent exciton chirality, where the coupling potential V₁₂ of ¹B_b transitions increases as nanoparticles grow and simultaneously the exciton chirality peaks exhibit the bathochromic shift. Such size-dependent optical properties can be attributed to the lattice hardening with increased particle size, which leads to a decreased dihedral angel θ between the two naphthyl planes in a R-BND molecule.