Self-Assembly of Organic Supramolecular Structures

Molecular recognition directed self-assembling of organized phases has been described recently in the formation 1) of mesophases by association of complementary molecular component, as in 13 (23) 2) of supramolecular liquid crystalline polymers of type 14 (24) and 3) of ordered solid state structures, such as that represented by 15 (25). In all these cases, the incorporation of NLO active groups may be expected to produce materials whose SHG properties would depend on molecular recognition induced self-organization. 

The supramolecular self-assembly of organic nanotubes and related structures has received increasing interest since the discovery of carbon nanotubes in 1991. SEM is a powerful technique for direct observation of their formation. For... 

The rational synthesis of peptide-based nanotubes by self-assembling of polypeptides into a supramolecular structure was demonstrated. This self-organization leads to peptide nanotubes, having channels of 0.8 nm in diameter and a few hundred nanometer long (68). The connectivity of the proteins in these nanotubes is provided by weak bonds, like hydrogen bonds. These structures benefit from the relative flexibility of the protein backbone, which does not exist in nanotubes of covalently bonded inorganic compounds. 

Organic supramolecular materials may be devised on the basis of molecular components of various structures bearing recognition units [9.149, 9.235]. As shown above, liquid crystals and liquid crystalline polymers of supramolecular nature presenting various supramolecular textures are generated by the self-assembly of complementary subunits. 

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