Highly defined, colloid-like ionic clusters in solution.

Abstract

Many societal challenges at the beginning of the 21st century lead to an apparent and growing need for functional materials and novel ways of materials synthesis and assembly. Rising to the challenge, the utilization of small, self-assembling building blocks for the bottom-up construction of new types of polymers and nanostructures has enjoyed increasing popularity among materials researchers in the recent past. Supramolecular materials like foldamers, surface films, nanoparticles, etc. are created by exploiting noncovalent forces [1] leading to an ordered arrangement of nanoscale building blocks. [2] In the search for new polymers based on noncovalent molecular forces, we are motivated by the idea of supramolecular or even polymer-like structures by self-assembly of small ionic monomers, merely formed from electrostatic and solvent interactions. We, in particular, focus on applying intrinsically nondirected electrostatic interactions to create nonetheless wellorganized supramolecular structures. [3] To achieve this aim, we