CPL in Chiral Metal Nanoclusters

Circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) is not a phenomenon limited to chiral molecules and metal complexes. Chirality can be imparted to nanoscale materials such as quantum dots, metal nanoparticles, and metal nanoclusters in varying degrees, exhibiting optical activity. Metal nanoclusters with atomically precise structures and compositions are of interest, since some of them possess an asymmetric atomic arrangement in their thermodynamically stable structures, so-called intrinsic chirality . Intrinsically chiral metal nanoclusters with emission property afford the emergence of CPL owing to their unambiguous asymmetric structures. This chapter firstly describes an overview of intrinsically chiral metal nanoclusters, including their preparation methodology and asymmetric atomic structures. The CPL property of chiral metal nanoclusters is then highlighted in terms of the structure–property relationship. The CPL property is readily controlled in response to a change in the asymmetrically arranged atomic structures.