Understanding the role of solvent
in translating molecular anisotropy
to supramolecular polymers is in the early stages. A solvent’s
influence on the strength of different noncovalent interactions can
explain anisotropic growth in some cases, but its effect on cooperative
processes, particularly in mixed solvents, remains obscure. We report
the self-assembly of a series of chiral perylene bisimides in water–cosolvent
mixtures, and the results highlight the fascinating influence of solvent–solute
interactions on supramolecular anisotropy, both chiral and morphological.
The initial assembly is agnostic to solvent composition, resulting
in weakly chiral, spherical nanostructures. In an extremely narrow
solvent composition range, the nanospheres transform into long, prominently
chiral supramolecular polymers. Further, chirality can be fully reversed
by changing the good (achiral) cosolvent. We elucidate how solvent
modulates specific noncovalent interactions and governs the kinetics
and thermodynamics of key processes, such as spontaneous phase segregation,
secondary nucleation, and cooperative growth. In the context of supramolecular
polymerization, our results encourage one to steer the focus away
from the physical attributes of a solvent (polarity, phase diagram,
etc.) and toward the complexities of solvent–solute interactions.