Amphiphilic dendrons containing biphenyl methyl ether units self-assemble into helical porous columns that self-organize into 2-D columnar hexagonal lattices with or without intracolumnar order. The self-assembly mechanism and the porous structures of the supramolecular assemblies were determined by a combination of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermal optical polarized microscopy (TOPM), x-ray diffraction (XRD) and molecular simulation experiments.  The helical porous structure was encountered both in bulk and in solution as demonstrated by circular dichroism (CD) and UV spectroscopy analysis for chiral dendron. These biphenyl hybrid dendrons maintain their porous structures when incorporated in poly(ethylene oxide)-polybutadiene (PEO-PBD) polymersomes. A transport measurement shows that the incorporated dendritic helical pores allow facile transport of protons across the polymersome membranes after up to one month of storage. This integration of synthetic porous channels with polymersome substrate could allow study of active transport processes in a wide range of conditions.

Self-assembly of biphenyl hybrid dendrons into helical porous columns

248th National Meeting (2014)

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