Breaking Parallel Orientation of Rods via a Dendritic Architecture toward Diverse Supramolecular Structures

Ruimeng Zhang; Xueyan Feng; Rui Zhang; Wenpeng Shan; Zebin Su; Jialin Mao; Chrys Wesdemiotis; Jiahao Huang; Xiao-Yun Yan; Tong Liu; Tao Li; Mingjun Huang; Zhiwei Lin; An-Chang Shi; Stephen Z D Cheng

doi:10.1002/anie.201904749

Breaking Parallel Orientation of Rods via a Dendritic Architecture toward Diverse Supramolecular Structures

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2019 Aug 19;58(34):11879-11885. doi: 10.1002/anie.201904749. Epub 2019 Jul 15.

Authors

Ruimeng Zhang^{1

2}, Xueyan Feng², Rui Zhang¹, Wenpeng Shan², Zebin Su², Jialin Mao³, Chrys Wesdemiotis^{2

3}, Jiahao Huang², Xiao-Yun Yan², Tong Liu², Tao Li^{4

5}, Mingjun Huang¹, Zhiwei Lin², An-Chang Shi⁶, Stephen Z D Cheng^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ South China Advanced Institute for Soft Matter Science and Technology, School of Molecular Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510640, China.
² Department of Polymer Science, College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering, The University of Akron, Akron, OH, 44325-3909, USA.
³ Department of Chemistry, The University of Akron, Akron, OH, 44325, USA.
⁴ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, 60115, USA.
⁵ X-ray Science Division, Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL, 60439, USA.
⁶ Department of Physics and Astronomy, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, L8S 4M1, Canada.

PMID: 31210375
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201904749

Abstract

Self-assembled nanostructures of rod-like molecules are commonly limited to nematic or layered smectic structures dominated by the parallel arrangement of the rod-like components. Distinct self-assembly behavior of four categories of dendritic rods constructed by placing a tri(hydroxy) group at the apex of dendritic oligo-fluorenes is observed. Designed hydrogen bonding and dendritic architecture break the parallel arrangement of the rods, resulting in molecules with specific (fan-like or cone-like) shapes. While the fan-shaped molecules tend to form hexagonal packing cylindrical phases, the cone-shaped molecules could form spherical motifs to pack into various ordered structures, including the Frank-Kasper A15 phase and dodecagonal quasicrystal. This study provides a model system to engineer diverse supramolecular structures by rod-like molecules and sheds new light into the mechanisms of the formation of unconventional spherical packing structures in soft matter.

Keywords: Frank-Kasper phase; nanostructures; oligofluorene; rod-like molecules; self-assembly.

Publication types

Review

Abstract

Publication types

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