title: Using hydrogen bonds to direct the assembly of crowded aromatics.
abstract: This Minireview details the design, synthesis, and self-assembly of a new class of crowded aromatics that form columnar superstructures. The assembly of these subunits produces helical and polar stacks, whose assembly can be directed with electric fields. In concentrated solutions, these self-assembled helical rods exhibit superhelical arrangements that reflect circularly polarized light at visible wavelengths. Depending on the side chains employed, spin-cast films yield either polar monolayers or isolated strands of molecules that can be visualized with scanning probe microscopy. Also detailed herein are methods to link these mesogens together to produce monodisperse oligomers that fold into defined secondary conformations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA.
authors.forename: Mark L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Bushey
authors.forename: Thuc-Quyen
authors.initials: TQ
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Dana
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Horoszewski
authors.forename: Colin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nuckolls
mesh_terms: D006841:Hydrocarbons, Aromatic / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry; D006860:Hydrogen Bonding; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D008956:Models, Chemical; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D015394:Molecular Structure
chemical_list: D006841:Hydrocarbons, Aromatic