Aggregation Modes of Chiral Diketopyrrolo[3,4-c]pyrrole Dyes in Solution and Thin Films

The chiroptical features of chiral diketopyrrolo[3,4-c]pyrrole (DPP) derivatives have been only marginally investigated to date. In this regard, we have synthesized ad hoc four chiral DPP dyes, functionalized with enantiopure alkyl groups from natural sources either on the lactam moieties or on the terminal positions of the π-conjugated backbone, to promote an efficient self-assembly into chiral supramolecular structures. For each of them, the aggregation modes has been investigated by absorbance and ECD spectroscopies in conditions of solution aggregation and on thin films, considering the effects of deposition technique (drop casting vs. spin coating) and post-deposition operations (solvent and thermal annealing). The effect of the structure of lateral π-conjugated units attached to the central DPP scaffold, as well as that of the position of the alkyl chiral group, has been assessed. ECD revealed superior capability, compared to absorbance spectroscopy, to provide information on the aggregation modes and to detect the possible co-existence of multiple aggregation pathways.     

Effective Amyloid Defibrillation by Polyhydroxyl‐Substituted Squaraine Dyes

With an objective to develop β‐amyloid destabilizing agents, we have investigated the interactions of a few water‐soluble near‐infrared (NIR)‐absorbing squaraine dyes 1 – 3 with lysozyme and its amyloid aggregates through photophysical and biophysical techniques. These dyes exhibited strong interactions with lysozyme and β‐amyloids in addition to serum albumins as evidenced by the absorption and emission changes. The interactions were found to be spontaneous with association constant values in the range of approximately 10⁴–10⁵ m ^?1, as confirmed through half‐reciprocal analysis and isothermal calorimetric measurements. Uniquely, such effective interactions of the dyes have led to the complete disassembly of the β‐amyloid fibrillar structures to form spherical particles approximately 350 nm in size, as confirmed through photophysical, thioflavin assay, circular dichroism (CD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), TEM, and selected‐area electron diffraction (SAED) techniques. These results demonstrate that the squaraine dyes 1 – 3 under investigation act as effective protein‐labelling and destabilizing agents of the protein amyloidogenesis.     

Amplification of Chirality in Helical Supramolecular Columns

Strong amplification of chirality occurs in dynamic, but highly ordered, helical columns in n-butanol, for which one chiral seed molecule suffices to render a column of 400 molecules to become homochiral. The chiral columns are formed in a thermally dependent stepwise process. The transition from achiral stacks to helical columns is highly cooperative owing to well-defined intermolecular interactions. `Sergeant and Soldiers' measurements allow for the calculation of the association constant and cooperativity length of the homochiral segments. The `Sergeant and Soldiers' data on the number of molecules within a column show a strikingly good match with data obtained from a theoretical model describing the self-assembly of the discotic molecules as a function of temperature and concentration.     

Evidence for the Cyclodextrin Mediated Aggregation of Cyanine Dyes into Oligomers

Based on the analysis of UV/Vis-and CD spectra of several cyanine dyes in - and -cyclodextrin a case is made for the aggregation of the dyes into oligomers. The criteria for this new type of aggregates are: (i) the appearance of a concentration and temperature dependent shoulder on the high energy side of the dimer band in the UV/Vis-spectra; (ii) two oppositely signed high intensity CD absorptions, one centered at the shoulder, the other at about the energy of the monomer absorption. Calculations based on coupled-oscillator theory support the contention that chiral dye aggregates are formed in the presence of cyclodextrins, most probably trimers and tetramers. From UV/Vis- and CD-data a helically twisted sandwich structure is suggested for these aggregates. In contrast to the reported inclusion complexes these aggregates must form — at least partly — outside the chiral host.     

Inversion of the Supramolecular Chirality of Nanofibrous Structures through Co‐Assembly with Achiral Molecules

To understand the behavior of chiral nanostructures, it is of critical importance to study how achiral molecules regulate the chirality of such nanostructures and what the main driving forces for the regulation processes are. In this work, the supramolecular chirality of helical nanofibers consisting of phenylalanine‐based enantiomers is inverted by achiral bis(pyridinyl) derivatives through co‐assembly. This inversion is mainly mediated by intermolecular hydrogen bonding interactions between the achiral additives and the chiral molecules, which may induce stereoselective interactions and different reorientations for the assembled molecules, as confirmed by calculations. This work not only exemplifies a feasible method to invert the helicity of chiral nanostructures by the addition of achiral molecules, but also provides a method to explore their functions in environments where chiral and achiral molecules are in close proximity.     

An enantiomeric nanoscale architecture obtained from a pseudoenantiomeric aggregate: covalent fixation of helical chirality formed in self-assembled discotic triazine triamides by chiral amplification

Covalent fixation of a chiral helical structure which is created in a self-assembling system by a chiral-amplification method based on the sergeants/soldiers principle is reported. Disk-shaped triazine triamides self-assembled to form columnar-type helical aggregates through pi-stacking interactions among the central triphenyltriazine moieties, hydrogen-bonding interactions among the amide groups, and van der Waals interactions among the alkyl groups in nonpolar solvents such as hexane, octane, toluene, and p-xylene. When the achiral triazine triamide soldier component is mixed with a tiny amount of the chiral triazine triamide sergeant component, control of the intrinsic supramolecular helicity of the self-assembled soldier component by the sergeant component leads to chiral amplification and formation of a pseudoenantiomeric aggregate with only one handedness of the helix. The helicity can be preserved by ring-closing olefin metathesis polymerization mediated by Grubbs catalyst when an achiral component with terminal olefinic groups forms the pseudoenantiomeric aggregate in the presence of a tiny amount of the chiral component without olefinic groups. After polymerization and removal of the chiral component, the polymeric architecture obtained from the achiral soldier component is optically active and thus can be regarded as an enantiomeric object in which the chiral information transferred from the chiral sergeant component is preserved. The nanoscale chiral structure is fixed perfectly, as indicated by CD spectroscopic evidence obtained in a polar THF medium at high temperature and low concentration. AFM and TEM observations show a nanoscale fibrous structure with a diameter of 2-4 nm, which corresponds to the molecular size of the triazine triamide monomer.     

Supramolecular ssDNA Templated Porphyrin and Metalloporphyrin Nanoassemblies with Tunable Helicity

Free‐base and nickel porphyrin–diaminopurine conjugates were formed by hydrogen‐bond directed assembly on single‐stranded oligothymidine templates of different lengths into helical multiporphyrin nanoassemblies with highly modular structural and chiroptical properties. Large red‐shifts of the Soret band in the UV/Vis spectroscopy confirmed strong electronic coupling among assembled porphyrin–diaminopurine units. Slow annealing rates yielded preferentially right‐handed nanostructures, whereas fast annealing yielded left‐handed nanostructures. Time‐dependent DFT simulations of UV/Vis and CD spectra for model porphyrin clusters templated on the canonical B‐DNA and its enantiomeric form, were employed to confirm the origin of observed chiroptical properties and to assign the helicity of porphyrin nanoassemblies. Molar CD and CD anisotropy g factors of dialyzed templated porphyrin nanoassemblies showed very high chiroptical anisotropy. The DNA‐templated porphyrin nanoassemblies displayed high thermal and pH stability. The structure and handedness of all assemblies was preserved at temperatures up to +85 °C and pH between 3 and 12. High‐resolution transition electron microscopy confirmed formation of DNA‐templated nickel(II) porphyrin nanoassemblies and their self‐assembly into helical fibrils with micrometer lengths.     

Influence of Ester versus Amide Linkers on the Supramolecular Polymerization Mechanisms of Planar BODIPY Dyes

We report the H‐type supramolecular polymerization of two new hydrophobic BODIPY derivatives equipped with ester and amide linkages. Whereas the ester‐containing BODIPY derivative undergoes an isodesmic supramolecular polymerization in which the monomers are parallel‐oriented, the replacement of the ester by amide groups leads to a highly cooperative self‐assembly process into H‐type aggregates with a rotational displacement of the dye molecules within the stack. The dye organization imposed by simultaneous π–π and hydrogen bonding interactions is the driving force for the cooperative supramolecular polymerization, whereas the absence of additional hydrogen bonds for the ester‐containing moiety does not suffice to induce cooperative phenomena.     

Hierarchy of Asymmetry in Chiral Supramolecular Polymers: Toward Functional,Helical Supramolecular Structures

The formation of helical structures through the supramolecular polymerization of a variety of self-assembling units is reviewed. These scaffolds are usually obtained by efficient transfer or amplification of chirality phenomena, in which the starting self-assembling molecules possess different elements of asymmetry, such as point or axial chirality. Relevant examples of helical supramolecular structures investigated under thermodynamic control are reviewed, and the helical outcome of remarkable examples of chiral entities obtained through kinetic control are also highlighted. Finally, selected examples of flexible macroscopic chirality and catalysis are described to illustrate the applicability of helical aggregates.     

Multimetallic Architectures from the Self‐assembly of Amino Acids and Tris(2‐pyridylmethyl)amine Zinc(II) Complexes: Circular Dichroism Enhancement by Chromophores Organization

Stereodynamic optical probes are becoming very popular for their capability to act as molecular sensors for the determination of the enantiomeric excess (ee) of chiral compounds. Herein, we describe a new molecular architecture formed by the self‐assembly of three zinc metal ions, two modified tris(2‐pyridylmethyl)amine ligands, and two amino acids. This system is the structural and functional serendipitous evolution of our previous probe for the determination of amino acids ee. In the new system, one of the metals templates in close proximity two chromophores enhancing their exciton coupling.     

方酸菁染料在有机太阳能电池中的研究进展

方酸菁作为一种重要的菁类染料,由于它在可见-近红外区有强烈的吸收和发射性质,以及良好的光热稳定性,使它在太阳能电池的研究中越来越受到重视.随着理论的不断完善,以及太阳能电池制作技术的成熟,方酸菁将在这一领域继续得到快速发展.综述了近年来方酸菁染料在染料敏化太阳能电池和本体异质结太阳能电池中的应用,从机理角度着重讨论了染料分子结构等因素对电池性能的影响,并提出了未来的研究方向.     

Chiral supramolecular assemblies of a squaraine dye in solution and thin films: concentration-, temperature-, and solvent-induced chirality inversion

We prepared novel cholesterol-appended squaraine dye 1 and model squaraine dye 2 and investigated their aggregation behavior in solution and thin films using photophysical, chiroptical, and microscopic techniques. Investigations on the dependence of aggregation on solvent composition (good/poor, CHCl3/CH3CN) demonstrated that squaraine dye 1 forms two novel H-type chiral supramolecular assemblies with opposite chirality at different good/poor solvent compositions. Model compound 2 formed J-type achiral assemblies under similar conditions. The supramolecular assembly of 1 observed at lower fractions of the poor solvent could be assigned to the thermodynamically stable form, while a kinetically controlled assembly is formed at higher fractions of the poor solvent. This assignment is evidenced by temperature- and concentration-dependent experiments. With increasing temperature, the chirality of the kinetically controlled aggregate was lost and, on cooling, the aggregate with the opposite chirality was formed. On further heating and cooling the aggregates thus formed resulted in no significant changes in chirality, that is they are thermodynamically stable. Similarly, at lower concentrations, the thermodynamically stable form exists, but at higher concentration aggregation was found to proceed with kinetic control. Based on these observations it can be assumed that formation of the kinetically controlled assembly might be largely dependent on the presence of the nonpolar cholesterol moiety as well as the amount of poor solvent present. However, under solvent-free conditions, structurally different aggregates were observed when drop cast from solutions containing monomer, whereas a left-handed CD signal corresponding to the thermodynamically controlled assemblies was observed from pre-aggregated solutions.     

Noncovalent Chirality Sensing Ensembles for the Detection and Reaction Monitoring of Amino Acids,Peptides, Proteins,and Aromatic Drugs

Ternary complexes between the macrocyclic host cucurbit[8]uril, dicationic dyes, and chiral aromatic analytes afford strong induced circular dichroism (ICD) signals in the near‐UV and visible regions. This allows for chirality sensing and peptide‐sequence recognition in water at low micromolar analyte concentrations. The reversible and noncovalent mode of binding ensures an immediate response to concentration changes, which allows the real‐time monitoring of chemical reactions. The introduced supramolecular method is likely to find applications in bioanalytical chemistry, especially enzyme assays, for drug‐related analytical applications, and for continuous monitoring of enantioselective reactions, particularly asymmetric catalysis.