From Chiroptical Polymers to Chiral Functional Nanomaterials: Synthesis, Self-Assembly, and Applications

Chirality exists extensively across various levels and scales in nature and living systems. By integrating both covalent and noncovalent interactions, chiral polymers have emerged as an ideal platform and a research hotspot for the construction, regulation, and functional application of chiral architectures. This review summarizes recent progress in the synthesis and assembly of chiral polymers, with a focus on representative synthetic methods and diverse assembly strategies. It also systematically outlines the important applications of such polymeric nanomaterials in areas including circularly polarized luminescence (CPL), asymmetric catalysis, chiral separation, and chiral liquid crystal elastomer (CLCE). Finally, current challenges and future directions in this field are discussed, aiming to provide insights for the rational design and expanded application of next-generation high-performance chiral polymeric nanomaterials.