title: Heat-induced morphological transformation of supramolecular nanostructures by retro-Diels-Alder reaction.
abstract: Controlling the morphology of supramolecular nanostructures in response to external stimuli is an important challenge in the development of functional soft materials. Here we show that a morphological transformation from 2D nanosheets to a network of 1D nanofibers is triggered by heating, which induces molecular conversion of a bolaamphiphile to a hydrogelator by means of a retro-Diels-Alder reaction, thereby producing a new heat-set supramolecular hydrogel. We anticipate that our design will be a starting point for more sophisticated supramolecular systems that integrate the thermodynamics of molecular assembly and the kinetics of chemical reactions to create complex supramolecular nanostructures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Synthetic Chemistry and Biological Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, Katsura, Nishikyo-ku, Kyoto, 615-8510, Japan. ikeda@sbchem.kyoto-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Masato
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ikeda
authors.forename: Rika
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ochi
authors.forename: Yu-shi
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Kurita
authors.forename: Darrin J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Pochan
authors.forename: Itaru
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Hamachi