Front Cover: Chiral Amplification by L‐Cysteine‐Capped Gold Nanoparticles in Lyotropic Chromonic Liquid Crystals (ChemNanoMat 12/2017)

Understanding the optical activity of nanoscale particles is key for their use in various applications. In this contribution by Hegmann et al., beautiful textures and stunning optical properties of nematic lyotropic chromonic liquid crystals (LCLCs) were used to obtain deeper insights and quantitative datasets of the chiral amplification by chiral ligand-capped gold nanoparticles. Two sets of L-cysteine-capped gold nanoparticles in the LCLC disodium cromoglycate (DSCG) in water induced tighter twists within the chromonic stacks (see center of image) in comparison to free L-cysteine containing orders of magnitude fewer chiral molecules. More information can be found in the Communication by Torsten Hegmann et al. on page 863 in Issue 12, 2017 (DOI: 10.1002/cnma.201700286).