Backbone-Directed Perylene Dye Self-Assembly into Oligomer Stacks

摘要

Backbone-supported self-assembly is a versatile, widely used method in supramolecular chemistry. In nature, DNA strands self-organize into double-helical secondary structures supported by a backbone composed of sugar and phosphate groups. Similarly, protein backbones organize chlorophyll dyes into efficient light-harvesting complexes in purple bacteria. To mimic the aggregate structures and functions of peptides, proteins, and other natural biomacromolecules, researchers have synthesized and studied artificial folda-mers, helical polymers, and DNA-multichromophore systems. However, the production of high-molecular-weight polymers that mimic the sophisticated aggregation process of biomacromolecules still remains a challenge. One difficulty is to understand the thermodynamics and kinetics of complex aggregation processes, which require the determination of the energy levels of self-assembled products, intermediates, and/or transition states.