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A triaxial supramolecular weave

Nature Chemistry volume 9, pages 1068–1072 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

Despite recent advances in the synthesis of increasingly complex topologies at the molecular level, nano- and microscopic weaves have remained difficult to achieve. Only a few diaxial molecular weaves exist—these were achieved by templation with metals. Here, we present an extended triaxial supramolecular weave that consists of self-assembled organic threads. Each thread is formed by the self-assembly of a building block comprising a rigid oligoproline segment with two perylene-monoimide chromophores spaced at 18 Å. Upon π stacking of the chromophores, threads form that feature alternating up- and down-facing voids at regular distances. These voids accommodate incoming building blocks and establish crossing points through CH–π interactions on further assembly of the threads into a triaxial woven superstructure. The resulting micrometre-scale supramolecular weave proved to be more robust than non-woven self-assemblies of the same building block. The uniform hexagonal pores of the interwoven network were able to host iridium nanoparticles, which may be of interest for practical applications.

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Figure 1: Woven topologies and illustration of the design principle.
Figure 2: Morphology and structural details of the supramolecular hexagon.
Figure 3: GIWAXS data and molecular organization of the kagome weave.
Figure 4: UV–vis spectroscopy, AFM studies and IrNPs embedded in the kagome weave.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the VW Foundation for financial support and the ETH Scientific Center for Optical and Electron Microscopy (ScopeM) for support. The authors also acknowledge Beamline 9 of the DELTA electron storage ring in Dortmund for providing synchrotron radiation and technical support for GIWAXS measurements. The authors thank D. Schlüter for discussions and J. Schnabl for the illustration of the supramolecular weave.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Wojciech Zajaczkowski and Stefano Corra: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Organic Chemistry, D-CHAB, ETH Zürich, Vladimir-Prelog-Weg 3, Zürich, 8093, Switzerland

    Urszula Lewandowska, Stefano Corra, Junki Tanabe, Ruediger Borrmann, Nellie A. K. Ochs & Helma Wennemers

  2. Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Ackermannweg 10, Mainz, 55128, Germany

    Wojciech Zajaczkowski, Sebastian Stappert, Chen Li, Wojciech Pisula & Klaus Müllen

  3. Department of Molecular Design and Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Nagoya University, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, 464-8603, Japan

    Junki Tanabe, Kohei Watanabe & Eiji Yashima

  4. Department of Materials, Laboratory for Surface Science and Technology, ETH Zürich, Vladimir-Prelog-Weg 5, Zurich, 8093, Switzerland

    Edmondo M. Benetti

  5. Scientific Center for Optical and Electron Microscopy, ETH Zürich, Auguste-Piccard-Hof 1, Zürich, 8093, Switzerland

    Robin Schaeublin

  6. Department of Molecular Physics, Faculty of Chemistry, Lodz University of Technology, Zeromskiego 116, Lodz, 90-924, Poland

    Wojciech Pisula

  7. Institute of Physical Chemistry, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Duesbergweg 10-14, Mainz, 55128, Germany

    Klaus Müllen

Authors
  1. Urszula Lewandowska
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  15. Helma Wennemers
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Contributions

U.L., W.Z., S.C., J.T. and H.W. conceived the molecular design and elucidated the structure. U.L., W.Z., S.C., J.T., R.B., E.M.B., S.S., K.W., N.A.K.O., R.S. and W.P. designed and carried out the experimental work. U.L., S.C. and H.W. wrote the manuscript with major contributions from R.B., W.Z., W.P. and K.M., as well as input from all other authors. All authors contributed to analysis of the data. K.M. and H.W. directed the research and conceived the overall project.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Helma Wennemers.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Lewandowska, U., Zajaczkowski, W., Corra, S. et al. A triaxial supramolecular weave. Nature Chem 9, 1068–1072 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchem.2823

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