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The Special “Morse Code” between Solvent Polarity and Morphology Flexibility in a POSS–Dendrimer Supramolecular System |
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| Authors: | Tianyu Shan Liang Gao Xiaoqian Tong Qinqing Du Zhihang An Huiwen He Prof Jiaping Lin Prof Si Chen Prof Xu Wang |
| Institution: | 1. College of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310014 China
These authors contributed equally to this work.;2. Shanghai Key Laboratory of Advanced Polymeric Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200237 China These authors contributed equally to this work.;3. College of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310014 China;4. Shanghai Key Laboratory of Advanced Polymeric Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200237 China |
| Abstract: | An amazing phenomenon of the relative magnitude of modulus of two liquid-crystal (LC) gels is found inverted under/above their phase transition temperature TLC-iso, which is further proved to be caused by their diverse morphology flexibility. By testing the polarity of two LCs, gelator POSS-G1-Boc (POSS=polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane) was discovered to self-assemble into more flexible structures in a relatively low polar LC, whereas more rigid ones are formed in higher polar LC. Hence, a fitting function to connect morphology flexibility with solvent polarity was established, which can even be generalized to a number of common solvents. Experimental observations and coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations revealed that solvent polarity mirrors a “Morse code”, with each “code” corresponding to a specific morphology flexibility. |
| Keywords: | molecular modeling nanostructures self-assembly solvent effects supramolecular chemistry |