Nanowires heading in the right direction.
© 2012 EPFL
Development of a robust supramolecular method to prepare well-defined nanofibrils from conjugated molecules.
In order to produce materials with tailored structures and functions via supramolecular self-assembly of molecular precursors in a predictable fashion, it is necessary to develop ‘supramolecular methods’ based on structurally simple ‘supramolecular synthons’. Thus, the formation of one-dimensional aggregates from π-conjugated molecules requires a combination of non-covalent interactions that efficiently suppresses lateral aggregation, promotes one-dimensional aggregation, and is also compatible with a productive π–π overlap of the constituent molecules. In the present work, the group of Prof. Holger Frauenrath (Laboratory of Macromolecular and Organic Materials) demonstrate that oligopeptide–polymer derivatives comprising a flexible polymer segment terminally attached to a β-sheet-forming oligopeptide segment are structurally simple substituents that perfectly fulfill these requirements. They synthesized a matrix of diacetylene model compounds that carried oligopeptide–polymer substituents with varying degrees of polymerization of the attached polymers and different length oligopeptide segments.