title: Pathway-dependent self-assembly of perylene diimide/peptide conjugates in aqueous medium.
abstract: Most molecular self-assembly strategies involve equilibrium systems, leading to a single thermodynamic product as a result of weak, reversible non-covalent interactions. Yet, strong non-covalent interactions may result in non-equilibrium self-assembly, in which structural diversity is achieved by forming several kinetic products based on a single covalent building block. We demonstrate that well-defined amphiphilic molecular systems based on perylene diimide/peptide conjugates exhibit kinetically controlled self-assembly in aqueous medium, enabling pathway-dependent assembly sequences, in which different organic nanostructures are evolved in a stepwise manner. The self-assembly process was characterized using UV/Vis circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy, and cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM). Our findings show that pathway-controlled self-assembly may significantly broaden the methodology of non-covalent synthesis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Organic Chemistry, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel.
authors.forename: Yaron
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tidhar
authors.forename: Haim
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Weissman
authors.forename: Sharon G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Wolf
authors.forename: Antonino
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gulino
authors.forename: Boris
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rybtchinski
mesh_terms: D007094:Imides / Q000737:chemistry*; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D015394:Molecular Structure; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry*; D010569:Perylene / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000737:chemistry*; D056951:Photoelectron Spectroscopy; D013816:Thermodynamics; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D007094:Imides; D010455:Peptides; C521332:perylenediimide; D014867:Water; D010569:Perylene