Self-Assembly of Coordination Polymers into Tunable Helical Structures

摘要

One of the most significant recent highlights in the field of supramolecular polymer chemistry is the development of folded helical structures which are important modules in the engineering of functional nanoobjects such as nanotubes,nanowires,and nano machines. In particular,helical architecture that undergoes conformational changes triggered by external stimuli has received attractive attention during recent years. Although DNA and proteins are well known to exhibit molecular motions in response to external stimuli,synthetic helical systems to mimick the molecular motions of complicated biological systems remain challenging. With this in mind,we have interested in the preparation of stimuli-responsive helical chains by using supramolecular coordination polymers with bent conformations.1-4 In this presentation,we present the formation of supramolecular springs with switchable pitch,from the aqueous self-assembly of supramolecular coordination polymers.5