Homochiral Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Cadmium Chlorides Directed by Enantiopure Amino Acids.

Homochiral cadmium chlorides were prepared under mild conditions using enantiopure amino acids as structure-directing agents. They feature a lacunary hexagonal CdCl2 lattice as well as a one-dimensional perovskite structure. The coexistence of protonated and zwitterionic amino acids between cadmium chloride chains is quite rare. These compounds are nonlinear optically active solids showing a moderate second-harmonic-generation response. Theoretical calculations were performed to reveal the origin of their nonlinear-optical properties.