A templating approach for monodisperse self-assembled organic nanostructures

The precise structural control is known for self-assembly into closed spherical structures (e.g., micelles), but similar control of open structures is much more challenging. Inspired by natural tobacco mosaic virus, we present the use of a rigid-rod template to control the size of a one-dimensional self-assembly. We believe that this strategy is novel for organic self-assembly and should provide a general approach to controlling size and dimension.     

Frank-Kasper and related quasicrystal spherical phases in macromolecules

Creation of diverse ordered nanostructures via self-assembly of macromolecules is a promising “bottom-up” approach towards next-generation nanofabrication technologies. It is therefore of critical importance to explore the possibilities to form new self-assembled phases in soft matter systems. In this review, we summarized recent advances on the identification of several unconventional spherical phases in the self-assembly of functional macromolecules, including Frank-Kasper (F-K) phases and quasicrystals originally observed in metal alloys. We believe that these results provide a new strategy towards the rational design of novel functional materials with hierarchically ordered structures.     

Crystallization of tetrahedral patchy particles in silico

We investigate the competition between glass formation and crystallization of open tetrahedral structures for particles with tetrahedral patchy interactions. We analyze the outcome of such competition as a function of the potential parameters. Specifically, we focus on the separate roles played by the interaction range and the angular width of the patches, and show that open crystal structures (cubic and hexagonal diamond and their stacking hybrids) spontaneously form when the angular width is smaller than about 30°. Evaluating the temperature and density dependence of the chemical potential of the fluid and of the crystal phases, we find that adjusting the patch width affects the fluid and crystal in different ways. As a result of the different scaling, the driving force for spontaneous self-assembly rapidly grows as the fluid is undercooled for small-width patches, while it only grows slowly for large-width patches, in which case crystallization is pre-empted by dynamic arrest into a network glass.     

Self-assembly of patchy particles into diamond structures through molecular mimicry

Fabrication of diamond structures by self-assembly is a fundamental challenge in making three-dimensional photonic crystals. We simulate a system of model hard particles with attractive patches and show that they can self-assemble into a diamond structure from an initially disordered state. We quantify the extent to which the formation of the diamond structure can be facilitated by "seeding" the system with small diamond crystallites or by introducing a rotation interaction to mimic a carbon-carbon antibonding interaction. Our results suggest patchy particles may serve as colloidal "atoms" and "molecules" for the bottom-up self-assembly of three-dimensional crystals.     

Spontaneous self-assembly of metal-organic cationic nanocages to form monodisperse hollow vesicles in dilute solutions

In this communication we report the unprecedented spontaneous self-assembly of cationic nanoporous metal-organic coordination cages (nanocages) into giant hollow vesicle-like structures in polar solvents. Such highly soluble nanocages (macrocations) have separated hydrophobic regions. However, their assembly is not due to hydrophobic interactions but the counterion-mediated attractions, very similar to the unique self-assembly of polyoxometalate macroanions into single-layer, spherical blackberry structures, as characterized by laser light scattering and TEM studies. This is the first study on the solution behavior of metal-organic nanocages and also the first report on the self-assembly of soluble macrocations. Therefore, the blackberry structure is likely to be a universal type of self-assembly for soluble macroions. In addition, the self-assembled nanocages can provide blackberry structures a wide range of organic functionalities that are impossible to reach with purely inorganic systems, which may open the door to many types of applications.     

聚苯乙烯-b-聚氧乙烯-b-聚苯乙烯三嵌段共聚物的自组装

小分子表面活性剂、磷脂、接枝及嵌段共聚物等两亲分子在选择性介质中能够自组装形成特定的分子聚集体 [1,2 ] .嵌段共聚物自组装的某些行为具有生物膜模拟性 ,如最近发现的嵌段共聚物自组装囊泡 [3～ 5] .诸多因素影响着嵌段共聚物在稀溶液中的自组装行为 [6] .对于 ABA型三嵌     

Stimuli-responsive supramolecular nanostructure from amphiphilic calix[4]arene and its three-dimensional dendritic silver nanostructure

We synthesized a tetrameric amphiphilic molecule ( 1) based on a calix[4]arene building block that self-assembled into different tunable and stable aggregation structures at different pH values in aqueous solution. The amphiphilic calix[4]arene molecule ( 1) formed a spherical structure at pH 3. However, 1 formed a hollow necklacelike structure of 500 nm diameter at pH 7. These results indicate that the self-assembled morphologies of 1 are strongly dependent on pH values. In addition, a 3D dendritic silver nanostructure was obtained by the self-assembly of 1 at pH 7.     

Phase diagrams,mechanisms and unique characteristics of alternating-structured polymer self-assembly via simulations

Alternating-structured polymers(ASPs), like alternating copolymers, regular multiblock copolymers and polycondensates, are very important polymer structures with broad applications in photoelectric materials. However, their self-assembly behaviors,especially the self-assembly of alternating copolymers, have not been clearly studied up to now. Meanwhile, the unique characteristics therein have not been systematically disclosed yet by both experiments and theories. Herein, we have performed a systematic simulation study on the self-assembly of ASPs with two coil alternating segments in solution through dissipative particle dynamics(DPD) simulations. Several morphological phase diagrams were constructed as functions of different impact parameters. Diverse self-assemblies were observed, including spherical micelles, micelle networks, worm-like micelles, disklike micelles, multimicelle aggregates, bicontinuous micelles, vesicles, nanotubes and channelized micelles. Furthermore, a morphological evolutionary roadmap for all these self-assemblies was constructed, along with which the detailed molecular packing models and self-assembly mechanisms for each aggregate were disclosed. The ASPs were found to adopt a folded-chain mechanism in the self-assemblies. Finally, the unique characteristics for the self-assembly of alternating copolymers were revealed especially, including(1) ultra-fine and uniform feature sizes of the aggregates;(2) independence of self-assembled structures from molecular weight and molecular weight distribution;(3) ultra-small unimolecular aggregates. We believe the current work is beneficial for understanding the self-assembly of alternating structured polymers in solution and can serve as a guide for the further experiments.     

Promoting self-assembly of collagen-related peptides into various higher-order structures by metal-histidine coordination

Collagen is an important and widely used biomaterial and therapeutic. The construction of large-scale collagen structures via the self-assembly of small collagen-related peptides has been extensively studied in the past decade. Here, we report a highly effective and simple means to assemble small synthetic collagen-related peptides into various higher-order structures by utilizing metal-histidine coordination. In this work, two short collagen-related peptides in which histidine residues were incorporated as metal binding sites were designed and chemically synthesized: HG(PPG)(9)GH (X9) and HG(PPG)(4)(PHG)(PPG)(4)GH (PHG). Circular dichroism measurements indicated that these two peptides form only marginally stable collagen triple helices but that their stability can be increased upon the addition of metal ions. Dynamic light scattering analyses, turbidity measurements, TEM, and SEM results demonstrated the metal ion-dependent self-assembly of X9 and PHG into supramolecular structures ranging from various nanofibrils to microscale spherical, laminated, and granulated assemblies. The topology and size of these higher-order structures depends both on the metal ion identity and the location of the binding sites. Most intriguingly, the assembled fibrils show similar D-periodicity to that of natural collagen. Our results demonstrate that metal-histidine coordination can serve as an effective force to induce the self-assembly of unstable collagen-related peptides into higher-order structures.     

Length Control and Block-Type Architectures in Worm-like Micelles with Polyethylene Cores

We present evidence for "living"-like behavior in the crystallization-driven self-assembly of triblock copolymers with crystallizable polyethylene middle blocks into worm-like crystalline-core micelles (CCMs). A new method of seed production is introduced utilizing the selective self-assembly of the triblock copolymers into spherical CCMs in appropriate solvents. Seeded growth of triblock copolymer unimers from these spherical CCMs results in worm-like CCMs with narrow length distributions and mean lengths that depend linearly on the applied unimer-to-seed ratio. Depending on the applied triblock copolymer, polystyrene-block-polyethylene-block-polystyrene (SES) or polystyrene-block-polyethylene-block-poly(methyl methacrylate) (SEM), well-defined worm-like CCMs with a homogeneous or patch-like corona, respectively, can be produced. In a subsequent step, these worm-like CCMs can be used as seeds for the epitaxial growth of a different polyethylene containing triblock copolymer. In this manner, ABA-type triblock co-micelles containing blocks with a homogeneous polystyrene corona and those with a patch-like polystyrene/poly(methyl methacrylate) corona were prepared. While the epitaxial growth of SEM unimers from worm-like SES CCMs with a homogeneous corona yields triblock co-micelles almost quantitatively, the addition of SES unimers to patchy SEM wCCMs results in a mixture of ABA- and AB-type block co-micelles together with residual patchy wCCMs. Following reports on self-assembled block-type architectures from polymers containing core-forming polyferrocenylsilane blocks, these structures represent the first extension of the concept to block co-micelles from purely organic block copolymers.     

Simulation of metal-ligand self-assembly into spherical complex m(6)l(8)

Molecular dynamics simulations were performed to study the self-assembly of a spherical complex through metal-ligand coordination interactions. M(6)L(8), a nanosphere with six palladium ions and eight pyridine-capped tridentate ligands, was selected as a target system. We successfully observed the spontaneous formation of spherical shaped M(6)L(8) cages over the course of our simulations, starting from random initial placement of the metals and ligands. To simulate spontaneous coordination bond formations and breaks, the cationic dummy atom method was employed to model nonbonded metal-ligand interactions. A coarse-grained solvent model was used to fill the gap between the time scale of the supramolecular self-assembly and that accessible by common molecular dynamics simulation. The simulated formation process occurred in the distinct three-stage (assembly, evolution, fixation) process that is well correlated with the experimental results. We found that the difference of the lifetime (or the ligand exchange rate) between the smaller-sized incomplete clusters and the completed M(6)L(8) nanospheres is crucially important in their supramolecular self-assembly.     

Heat-shrinking spherical and columnar supramolecular dendrimers: their interconversion and dependence of their shape on molecular taper angle

Synthesis and modes of self-assembly are described for the tapered monodendritic molecules 3,4,5-nGi-X of generation i = 1, 2, 3 (see structures below) that contain multiple (CH2)nH alkyl chains on their periphery (n = 12, 14, 16) and a polar group X at the apex (X = COOH, COONa, COOCs, CO(OCH2CH2)3OH). These monodendrons self-assemble into supramolecular cylindrical or spherical dendrimers, which in turn self-organise into p6mm columnar or Pm3n cubic thermotropic liquid crystals, respectively. The two principal ways of affecting the self-assembly of these compounds by means of their molecular architecture are: a) by changing the width of the wide (aliphatic) end, and b) by changing the volume at the apex. In the present work a) is controlled through temperature (conformational disorder) and b) is controlled by chaging the generation number i or the size of X, for example, through the choice of metal cation. The single most important geometric parameter of these dendritic building blocks is the molecular solid angle (taper angle) alpha; a high alpha leads to spherical and a low alpha to cylindrical supramolecular dendrimers. Furthermore, alpha also determines the equilibrium size of the supramolecular objects; a larger alpha results in a smaller diameter. The unusually strong negative thermal expansion coefficient of the cubic and columnar lattice is attributed to the excess of the increasingly highly tapered molecules being rejected from their parent aggregates and reassembling as new ones. Increasing alpha is also considered to be responsible for the observed thermotropic columnar-cubic transition.     

Fabrication of virus-like particles with strip-pattern surface: A two-step self-assembly approach

Spherical nanostructures with striped patterns on the surfaces resembling the essential structures of natural virus particles were constructed through a two-step self-assembly approach of polystyrene-boligo(acrylic acid)(PS-b-oligo-AA) and poly(γ-benzyI L-glutamate)-b-poly(ethylene glycol)(PBLG-bPEG) copolymer mixtures in solution.On the basis of difference in hydrophilicity and self-assembly properties of the two copolymers,the two-step self-assembly process is realized.It was found that PS-boligo-AA copolymers formed spherical aggregates by adding a certain amount of water into polymer solutions in the first step.In the second step,two polymer solutions were mixed and water was further added,inducing the self-assembly of PBLG-b-PEG on the surfaces of PS-b-oligo-AA spheres to form striped patterns.In-depth study was conducted for the indispensable defects of striped patterns which are dislocations and +1/2 disclinations.The influencing factors such as the mixing ratio of two copolymers and the added water content in the first step on the morphology and defects of the striped patterns were investigated.This work not only presents an idea to interpret mechanism of the cooperative self-assembly behavior,but also provides an effective approach to construct virus-like particles and other complex structures with controllable morphology.     

Switching in organic devices caused by nanoscale Schottky barrier patches

We have identified a possible electronic origin of metal filaments, invoked to explain the switching behavior of organic devices. Interfaces of two representative organics polyparaphenylene (PPP) and poly(2-methoxy-5-2-ethyl-hexyloxy-1,4-phenylenevinylene) with Ag are investigated using ballistic emission microscopy. Nanometer scale spatial nonuniformity of carrier injection is observed in ballistic electron emission microscopy images of both interfaces. The measured Schottky barrier (SB) appears to be consistent with metal states tailing into the gap of the PPP. We find that the SB values exhibit a distribution, even for the diodes with low ideality factors. The implications of this distribution on the measured physical properties of the diode are discussed, in light of work on devices of similar geometry, published in the literature. We also demonstrate that patches of low SB are likely to nucleate current filaments which can cause local ionization and are reported to be responsible for the switching behavior observed in metal-organic, metal-CuS and Ag-AgSe structures.     

Synthesis, self-assembly, and characterization of supramolecular polymers from electroactive dendron rodcoil molecules

We report here the synthesis and self-assembly of a series of three molecules with dendron rodcoil architecture that contain conjugated segments of oligo(thiophene), oligo(phenylene-vinylene), and oligo(phenylene). Despite their structural differences, all three molecules yield similar self-assembled structures. Electron and atomic force microscopy reveals the self-assembly of the molecules into high aspect ratio ribbon-like nanostructures which at low concentrations induce gelation in nonpolar solvent. Self-assembly results in a blue-shifted absorption spectrum and a red-shifted, quenched fluorescence spectrum, indicating aggregation of the conjugated segments within the ribbon-like structures. The assembly of these molecules into one-dimensional nanostructures is a route to pi-pi stacked supramolecular polymers for organic electronic functions. In the oligo(thiophene) derivative, self-assembly leads to a 3 orders of magnitude increase in the conductivity of iodine-doped films due to self-assembly. We also found that electric field alignment of these supramolecular assemblies can be used to create arrays of self-assembled nanowires on a device substrate.     

Dramatic specific-ion effect in supramolecular hydrogels

We report on a pronounced specific-ion effect on the intermolecular and chiral organization, supramolecular structure formation, and resulting materials properties for a series of low molecular weight peptide-based hydrogelators, observed in the presence of simple inorganic salts. This effect was demonstrated using aromatic short peptide amphiphiles, based on fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl (Fmoc). Gel-phase materials were formed due to molecular self-assembly, driven by a combination of hydrogen bonding and π-stacking interactions. Pronounced morphological changes were observed by atomic force microscopy (AFM) for Fmoc-YL peptide, ranging from dense fibrous networks to spherical aggregates, depending on the type of anions present. The gels formed had variable mechanical properties, with G'?values between 0.8?kPa and 2.4?kPa as determined by rheometry. Spectroscopic analysis provided insights into the differential mode of self-assembly, which was found to be dictated by the hydrophobic interactions of the fluorenyl component, with comparable H-bonding patterns observed in each case. The efficiency of the anions in promoting the hydrophobic interactions and thereby self-assembly was found to be consistent with the Hofmeister anion sequence. Similar effects were observed with other hydrophobic peptides, Fmoc-VL and Fmoc-LL. The effect was found to be less pronounced for a less hydrophobic peptide, Fmoc-AA. To get more insights into the molecular mechanism, the effect of anions on sol-gel equilibrium was investigated, which indicates the observed changes result from the specific-ion effects on gels structure, rather than on the sol-gel equilibrium. Thus, we demonstrate that, by simply changing the ionic environment, structurally diverse materials can be accessed providing an important design consideration in nanofabrication via molecular self-assembly.     

Synthesis and self-assembly of a heteroarm star amphiphile with 12 alternating arms and a well-defined core

We report on a stepwise synthesis of a heteroarm starlike amphiphile containing 12 alternating arms (six polystyrene and six poly(acrylic acid)) connected to a hexabiphenyl aromatic core. The synthesis does not involve polymerization, and only commercially available precursors are used. Most importantly, this amphiphile undergoes self-assembly into spherical and wormlike cylindrical micelles in aqueous and methanol solutions, and forms reverse 1D micellar structures in chloroform. This remarkable morphological diversity of the reported amphiphile 1 is believed to be a direct consequence of its well-defined molecular architecture.     

软三嵌段两面神胶体粒子自组装行为的模拟研究

采用软补丁粒子模型及相应的介观动力学模拟方法, 研究了软三嵌段两面神胶体粒子在稀溶液条件下的自组装行为. 通过合理调节补丁大小和补丁之间的吸引强度, 软三嵌段两面神胶体粒子能够自组装形成非常丰富的聚集结构, 包括线状结构、 六方柱状结构、 体心四方束状结构以及三维网络状结构. 此外, 分析了与纤维结构类似的体心四方束状结构形成的动力学机理. 模拟结果为实验上设计并制备新颖的超胶体纳米结构提供一定的理论支持.     

Computer simulations of block copolymer tethered nanoparticle self-assembly

We perform molecular simulations to study the self-assembly of block copolymer tethered cubic nanoparticles. Minimal models of the tethered nanoscale building blocks (NBBs) are utilized to explore the structures arising from self-assembly. We demonstrate that attaching a rigid nanocube to a diblock copolymer affects the typical equilibrium morphologies exhibited by the pure copolymer. Lamellar and cylindrical phases are observed in both systems but not at the corresponding relative copolymer tether block fractions. The effect of nanoparticle geometry on phase behavior is investigated by comparing the self-assembled structures formed by the tethered NBBs with those of their linear ABC triblock copolymer counterparts. The tethered nanocubes exhibit the conventional triblock copolymer lamellar and cylindrical phases when the repulsive interactions between different blocks are symmetric. The rigid and bulky nature of the cube induces interfacial curvature in the tethered NBB phases compared to their linear ABC triblock copolymer counterparts. We compare our results with those structures obtained from ABC diblock copolymer tethered nanospheres to further elucidate the role of cubic nanoparticle geometry on self-assembly.     

Solvent-mediated morphological transformations in peptide-based soft structures

Self-assembly is routinely used for the design and fabrication of new and advanced materials. Biological building blocks such as short peptides undergo self-assembly to reveal a variety of hierarchical structures such as nanotubes, fibers, and spherical structures. Peptide-based soft spherical structures are potentially useful for a variety of applications including vehicles for drug delivery and biological molecules. This report describes a tripalmitoylated triskelion ditryptophan peptide conjugate (5) that self-assembles to form hollow spheres along with pores on the surface when higher concentration of the dichloromethane was used, but forms fiber structures when heated in toluene solvent.