title: Mechanistic control over morphology: self-assembly of a discotic amphiphile in water.
abstract: We report on the self-assembly of discotic amphiphiles that contain chelated gadolinium(iii) ions and are based on the C3-symmetrical benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxamide motif. Fluorescence spectroscopy, SAXS and cryo-TEM experiments demonstrate that a bimodal distribution of small and large aggregates is formed in a ratio that is dependent on the ionic strength. The results correlate with the previously reported degree of cooperativity of the polymerization mechanism, which increases with increasing NaCl concentration. Hence, by tuning the electrostatic interactions between the ligands at the periphery we can tune the cooperativity of the self-assembly. This tunability provides a versatile handle to adjust the size and shape of the discotic amphiphiles, which have potential as supramolecular MRI contrast agents.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Complex Molecular Systems, Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands and Laboratory of Macromolecular and Organic Chemistry, Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands. i.voets@tue.nl and Laboratory of Chemical Biology, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Isja
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: de Feijter
authors.affiliation: Organic Chemistry Institute & CeNTech, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Corrensstrasse 40, 48149 Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: Pol
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Besenius
authors.affiliation: Institute for Complex Molecular Systems, Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands and Laboratory of Chemical Biology, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Lorenzo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Albertazzi
authors.affiliation: Institute for Complex Molecular Systems, Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands and Laboratory of Macromolecular and Organic Chemistry, Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands. i.voets@tue.nl and Laboratory of Chemical Biology, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: E W
authors.initials: EW
authors.lastname: Meijer
authors.affiliation: Institute for Complex Molecular Systems, Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands and Laboratory of Macromolecular and Organic Chemistry, Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands. i.voets@tue.nl.
authors.forename: Anja R A
authors.initials: ARA
authors.lastname: Palmans
authors.affiliation: Institute for Complex Molecular Systems, Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands and Laboratory of Macromolecular and Organic Chemistry, Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands. i.voets@tue.nl.
authors.forename: Ilja K
authors.initials: IK
authors.lastname: Voets