Nanofibers with Tunable Stiffness from Self-Assembly of an Amphiphilic Wedge-Coil Molecule

摘要

Self-assembly of amphiphilic block molecules can lead to a variety of nanostructures, which include spherical micelles, vesicles, nanofibers, and tubes.[1] Extensive efforts have thus been made toward the design of novel molecular architectures consisting of incompatible components that are able to assemble into nanostructures with desired functions. Among the nanostructures formed by self-assembly of designed molecules, a 1D fibrillar assembly has proved to be particularly interesting for applications such as nanowires and biomimetic macromolecules.[2] The 1D structures with stimuli-responsive features are likely to further enhance their scope as intelligent materials. Although stimuli-responsive nanostructures have been extensively studied with spherical objects,[3] switching of the properties triggered by external stimuli with 1D fibrillar objects remains challenging.[4] In this context, we have been interested in the preparation of a stimulus-responsive 1D cylindrical assembly with tunable properties triggered by the solvent environment.