Cover Picture: On the “Tertiary Structure” of Poly‐Carbenes; Self‐Assembly of sp³‐Carbon‐Based Polymers into Liquid‐Crystalline Aggregates (Chem. Eur. J. 35/2013)

Abstract

The “tertiary structure” of polycarbenes has a remarkable influence on the material properties of these synthetic polymers. Although the tertiary structure of polypeptides is known to determine important functional properties of proteins, a similar influence of supramolecular aggregation of synthetic polymers on their material properties is less established. In their Full Paper on , de Bruin and co‐workers describe the self‐assembly of syndiotactic polycarbene polymers st‐PEA into van der Waals stabilized liquid‐crystalline (LC) aggregates. This behaviour is due to self‐aggregation of st‐PEA into triple helix aggregates and is unexpected for such a flexible sp3‐carbon backbone.