Depending on the connectivity of solubilizing oligoethylene glycol (OEG) side chains to the π-cores of amphiphilic naphthalene and perylene bisimide dyes, self-assembly in water occurs either upon heating or cooling. Herein, we show that this effect originates from differences in the enwrapping capability of the π-cores by the OEG chains. Rylene bisimides bearing phenyl substituents with three OEG chains attached directly to the hydrophobic π-cores are strongly sequestered by the OEG chains. These molecules self-assemble at elevated temperatures in an entropy-driven process according to temperature- and concentration-dependent UV/Vis spectroscopy and calorimetric dilution studies. In contrast, for rylene bisimides in which phenyl substituents with three OEG chains are attached via a methylene spacer, leading to much weaker sequestration, self-assembly originates upon cooling in an enthalpy-driven process. Our explanation for this controversial behavior is that the aggregation in the latter case is dictated by the release of "high energy water" from the hydrophobic π-surfaces as well as dispersion interactions between the π-scaffolds which drive the self-assembly in an enthalpically driven process. In contrast, for the former case we suggest that in addition to the conventional explanation of a dehydration of hydrogen-bonded water molecules from OEG units it is in particular the increase in conformational entropy of back-folded OEG side chains upon aggregation that provides the pronounced gain in entropy that drives the aggregation process. Thus, our studies revealed that a subtle change in the attachment of solubilizing substituents can switch the thermodynamic signature for the self-assembly of amphiphilic dyes in water from enthalpy- to entropy-driven.
Keywords: OEG chains; amphiphilic dyes; self-assembly; thermodynamics; π-conjugated systems.
© 2020 The Authors. Published by Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.