Yuanpeng Ye

Yuanpeng Ye

Pedro

The flowing water does not race, but its persistence is unending.

Publications

You can also find my articles on my Google Scholar profile.

Journal Articles

Aqueously dispersed homopolypeptide nanotoroids with tunable circularly polarized luminescence

Published in Chinese Chemical Letters, 2026

Aqueously dispersed nanomaterials exhibiting circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) hold great potentials in biological fields due to the inherent chirality of biological systems and its excellent biocompatibility. However, the limited availability of biodegradable CPL nanoparticles in aqueous media has severely constrained the development of biomedical CPL. Here, we present a facile strategy for achieving tunable CPL of aqueously dispersed nanotoroids through the co-assembly of a homopolypeptide with three achiral triphenylamine derivatives, showing a CPL performance depending on the architecture and doping content of small molecules. Remarkably, a deep-red CPL can be achieved with a record luminescence dissymmetry factor (glum = 1.1 × 10−2) among aqueously polypeptide-based nanoparticles. Furthermore, the densely packed nanostructure completely suppressed the intrinsic reactive oxygen species generation of the chromophores by restricting oxygen diffusion and quenching exciton-energy transfer, thereby eliminating phototoxic risks while preserving imaging fidelity. Overall, this work not only provides a facile method for achieving aqueous CPL from achiral molecules but also establishes a structure-property relationship between chromophore geometry and supramolecular CPL performance, advancing their potential in biological fields.

Recommended citation: **Y. Ye**, X. Hu, D. Yang et al. Chinese Chemical Letters 37 (2026) 111844.
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Engineering circularly polarized luminescence through symmetry manipulation in achiral tetraphenylpyrazine structures

Published in Chinese Journal of Structural Chemistry, 2025

Symmetry breaking, a critical phenomenon in both natural and artificial systems, is pivotal in constructing chiral structures from achiral building units. This study focuses on the achiral molecule TPP-C8OH, an aggregation-induced emission (AIE) molecule, to explore its symmetry breaking behavior in supramolecular assembly. By analyzing TPP-C8OH in various solvents—both non-chiral and chiral—we find that chiral solvents significantly enhance the symmetry breaking and chiroptical properties of the molecule. Specially, alcohol solvents, particularly dodecyl alcohol, facilitate the formation of helical structures with both left-handed (M) and right-handed (P) helices within single twisted nanoribbons. This observation contrasts with previously reported symmetry breaking phenomena in assembly systems. Chiral solvents induce assemblies with distinct helical orientations, resulting in notable circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) and circular dichroism (CD) signals. This study elucidates the impact of solvent choice on symmetry breaking and chiral assembly, offering insights into the design of advanced chiral materials with tailored self-assembly processes.

Recommended citation: **Y. Ye** et al. Chinese Journal of Structural Chemistry 44 (2025) 100460.
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