Isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) was introduced as a highly sensitive tool to analyze interactions in polymer and material science by their thermodynamic patterns. The thermodynamic parameters ΔH, ΔS, ΔG, K B , and the stoichiometric ratio of the interactions in a complex organic-inorganic hybrid system were determined in a single experiment. In particular, the adsorption behavior of surface-active amphiphilic copolymers, bearing different types of anchor groups (nonionic, zwitterionic, and acidic), with SiO 2 nanoparticles in a multicomponent solvent system was investigated. The knowledge of the thermodynamic parameters of the interaction provided, beside its strength, a detailed understanding of its mechanism. Particularly, for the production of the nanocomposites, this knowledge might lead to a more rational and optimized design of these materials.

In this work, we illustrated a novel design strategy that allows systematically tunable interior properties (effective cavity size, steric crowdedness, and hydrophobicity) contained within a novel class of shape-persistent aromatic pentamers to take place on a scale below 3 A. Such finely tunable structural features are complimented by experimentally observable functional variations in ion-binding potential. Results of the selective, differential binding affinities of three circular pentamers for Li(+), Na(+), K(+), Rb(+), and Cs(+), substantiated by metal-containing crystal structures and computational modeling, are detailed.