Abstract
Supramolecular polymer formed by non-covalent interactions between complementary building blocks entraps solvents and develops supramolecular polymer gel. A supramolecular polymer gel was prepared by the heating-cooling cycle of β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) and naphthalenedimide (NDI) solution in N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF). The host-guest inclusion complex of β-CD and NDI 1 containing dodecyl amine forms the supramolecular polymer and gel in DMF. However, β-CD and NDI 2, having glutamic acid, fail to form the supramolecular polymer and gel under the same condition. X-ray crystallography shows that the alkyl chains of NDI 1 are complementary to the hydrophobic cavity of the two β-CD units. From rheology, the storage modulus was approximately 1.5 orders of magnitude larger than the loss modulus, which indicates the physical crosslink and elastic nature of the thermo-responsive gel. FE-SEM images of the supramolecular polymer gel exhibit flake-like morphology and a dense flake network. The flakes developed from the assembly of smaller rods. Photophysical studies show that the host-guest complex formation and gelation have significantly enhanced emission intensity with a new hump at 550 nm. Upon excitation by a 366 nm UV-light, NDI 1 and β-CD gel in DMF shows white light emission. The gel has the potential for the fabrication of organic electronic devices.
Highlights
Recognition, combination, and repeated arrays of complementary monomeric building blocks connected by highly directional and reversible non-covalent interactions yield supramolecular polymers [1,2,3]
We are looking for supramolecular polymers by molecular recognition, combination, and repeated arrays of complementary monomeric building blocks connected by reversible non-covalent interactions; we study the optical properties
The design principle behind this was to develop the supramolecular polymer by the host-guest inclusion complex of β-CD and chromophore NDI. β-CD is a macrocyclic oligosaccharide of seven glucose subunits connected by α-1,4 glycosidic bonds (Figure 1a)
Summary
Recognition, combination, and repeated arrays of complementary monomeric building blocks connected by highly directional and reversible non-covalent interactions yield supramolecular polymers [1,2,3]. Though there are many reports on supramolecular polymer gel [19], the fabrication of a supramolecular polymer and gel from π-conjugated semiconductor systems is still challenging due to their projected applications in photovoltaics, electronic device, organic light-emitting diodes and field-effect transistors. Due to their potential application in organic electronic devices, the developments of white-light-emitting organic materials are highly important [20,21,22,23]. We are looking for supramolecular polymers by reversible non-covalent interactions of chromophores and study the effect of the host-guest complex formation on optical properties. Upon excitation by a 366 nm UV-light, NDI 1 and β-CD gel in DMF shows white-light emission
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