Nanosheet-stacked chiral silica transcribed from metal ion- and pH-tuned supramolecular crystalline complexes of polyamine-D-glucarate.

D-glucaric acid (D-Glc) associates with linear poly(ethyleneimine) (PEI) through hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interactions in aqueous media to form nanostructured crystalline PEI/D-Glc/H2O complexes with PEI/D-Glc/H2O ratios of 2:1:2. These complexes can serve as templates for silica depositions from hydrolytic condensation of tetramethoxysilane to guide morphologically duplicated silica under very mild conditions. Their microscale morphologies are tunable by use of the crystalline complexes regulated in the different pH of the PEI/D-Glc solutions.