Helical organic nanotubes from simple chiral building blocks.
Utilizing simple organic chiral (S)-(-)- and (R)-(+)- 1,1'-binaphthyl-2,2'-diamino as building blocks, one-dimensional chiral nanofibers/tubes were assembled via a simple process. Morphology and structure of the building blocks and the assemblies were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), while formation and properties of the assemblies were studied by ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectrophotometer, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer, X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and Circular dichroism (CD) spectropolarimeter. Results show that left-handed and right-handed nanofibers were successfully assembled via this method, and the structure and morphology of the assembled nanofibers are heavily dependent on assembling conditions and intrinsic molecular information of the building blocks. Additionally, water contact angle measurements were conducted to investigate surface wetting properties of the nanotubes, indicating a superhydrophobic surface and the possibility of achieving novel and additional properties by assembling building blocks into an ordered supermolecular structure. This work provides a simple method to prepare helical organic nanomaterials of interest for various applications.
State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, PR China.
Wei
W
Wei
Kun
K
Huang
Chih-Ning
CN
Pao
Zuming
Z
Hu
Yunfeng
Y
Lu