Maximized circularly polarized luminescence from metal clusters accelerates chiral photopolymerization

The practical application of the circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) emitted from chiral substances faces significant hurdles, primarily due to the small luminescence dissymmetry factor (glum) and low photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY). Herein, we demonstrate a hierarchical system in which metal clusters exhibit excellent CPL performance, with both excellent glum factors and high PLQYs, thereby triggering enantioselective photopolymerization. Their CPL activities are sequentially amplified in different assembly forms induced by liquid crystals (LCs), and the maximum glum factor is increased by 1240 times, reaching a value of 1.24. The PLQYs of the metal clusters in different assembled states are sharply enhanced compared to that in the discrete state. Benefiting from the CPL performance of the metal clusters, their CPL was used to remotely regulate enantioselective polymerization, thus realizing light-to-matter chirality transfer. Impressively, upon incorporation of achiral luminophores, the polymer system is endowed with CPL through sequential chirality transfer. These innovative achievements open new avenues for the design and cutting-edge application of CPL-active metal clusters. The applicability of the circularly polarized luminescence emitted from chiral substances is limited by their poor performance. Here, the authors describe the sequential amplification of circularly polarized luminescence of metal clusters to trigger enantioselective photopolymerization.