title: Alpha-helical-within-discotic columnar structures of a complex between poly(ethylene oxide)-block-poly(l-lysine) and a hexa-peri-hexabenzocoronene.
abstract: Poly(ethylene oxide)-block-poly(l-lysine) (PEO-PLL) was complexed with an amphiphilic hexa-peri-hexabenzocoronene (HBC). This produced a thermotropic liquid crystalline material (PEO-PLL-HBC), which was investigated by FTIR spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry as well as by wide- and small-angle X-ray scattering. It was found that the poly(l-lysine) blocks form an alpha-helical secondary structure. Each helix is surrounded symmetrically by six discotic columns of HBC, which gives an alpha-helical-within-discotic column structural entity. The dense packing of these entities produces hexagonal sublattices (formed by the columns) in the frame of a two-dimensional hexagonal lattice (formed by the helices). An order-order transition from a columnar structure Col1 to Col2 was found at 54 degrees C. The unit cell constants are 5.75 nm (Col1) and 6.60 nm (Col2). The larger unit cell size of Col2 was explained by a higher intracolumnar order of the latter in which the packing distance of the disklike HBC cores is well-defined (0.353 nm). PEO-PLL-HBC combines essential features of liquid crystals with a basic structural element of proteins into a single material.
authors.affiliation: Fraunhofer Institute, Geiselbergstrasse 69, D-14476 Golm, Germany. andreas.thunemann@iap.fhg.de
authors.forename: Andreas F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Thünemann
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kubowicz
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Burger
authors.forename: Mark D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Watson
authors.forename: Natalia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tchebotareva
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Müllen
mesh_terms: D040761:Biomimetic Materials / Q000737:chemistry*; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons / Q000737:chemistry*; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols / Q000737:chemistry*; D011107:Polylysine / Q000737:chemistry*; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D014965:X-Rays
chemical_list: D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons; C472026:poly(ethylene oxide)-block-poly(L-lysine) hexa-peri-hexabenzocoronene complex; D011107:Polylysine; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols