π-Organogels of Self-Assembled <i>p</i>-Phenylenevinylenes: Soft Materials with Distinct Size, Shape, and Functions

Ajayaghosh, Ayyappanpillai; Praveen, Vakayil K.

doi:10.1021/ar7000364

Cited by 848 publications

(362 citation statements)

References 56 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

355

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…However, selfassembly provides an alternative route in this regard, which involves controlling spatiotemporal structures for the design and fabrication of functional supramolecular assemblies and materials. [4][5][6] The selfassembly of amphiphiles has been shown to be of significant importance in many research fields, for example as building blocks for the fabrication of novel organic nanotubes or nanofibers for electrical and medical devices, [7][8][9][10][11] candidates for drug delivery, [12][13][14][15] templates for processing well-defined materials, [16][17][18] nano/microreators for carrying on some reactions in aqueous solution, and even for artificial-enzyme-mimicking [19][20][21][22][23] stabilizers for incorporating emulsions used for cleaning and green organic reactions. [24,25] Moreover, the introduction of stimuli-responsive groups into building blocks can lead to the fabrication of smart supramolecular materials that are responsive to the external stimuli, such as light irradiation, heating, or pH change.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tuning the Amphiphilicity of Building Blocks: Controlled Self‐Assembly and Disassembly for Functional Supramolecular Materials

2009

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Amphiphilicity is one of the molecular bases for self‐assembly. By tuning the amphiphilicity of building blocks, controllable self‐assembly can be realized. This article reviews different routes for tuning amphiphilicity and discusses different possibilities for self‐assembly and disassembly in a controlled manner. In general, this includes irreversible and reversible routes. The irreversible routes concern irreversible reactions taking place on the building blocks and changing their molecular amphiphilicity. The building blocks are then able to self‐assemble to form different supramolecular structures, but cannot remain stable upon loss of amphiphilicity. Compared to the irreversible routes, the reversible routes are more attractive due to the good control over the assembly and disassembly of the supramolecular structure formed via tuning of the amphiphilicity. These routes involve reversible chemical reactions and supramolecular approaches, and different external stimuli can be used to trigger reversible changes of amphiphilicity, including light, redox, pH, and enzymes. It is anticipated that this line of research can lead to the fabrication of new functional supramolecular assemblies and materials.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tuning the Amphiphilicity of Building Blocks: Controlled Self‐Assembly and Disassembly for Functional Supramolecular Materials

2009

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In this review, we focus primarily on functional hydrogels with self-assembled structures. Functional organogels produced by molecular self-assembly have been covered in several excellent reviews [11][12][13][14].Hydrogels as a functional material have their own advantages over organogels. Th e aqueous medium makes hydrogels an ideal candidate for soft biotissue, mimicking its functions for applications such as scaff olds for cell culturing [15,16].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrogels with self-assembling ordered structures and their functions

Gong

2011

NPG Asia Mater

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Biomimetic and bioinspired materials are receiving increasing attention because of their robust functionality and potential applications as artifi cial tissue [1,2]. For natural materials, a high degree of sophistication is achieved through self-organization of the various components into ordered and hierarchical structures following a well-defi ned pattern [2][3][4]. Biological tissue possesses these ordered structures, endowing the living organisms with mechanical toughness and functionality, as exemplifi ed by tissues such as bone and cartilage. Th erefore, eff orts should be made to introduce ordered and hierarchical structure into soft, and also hard, synthetic materials. Among the strategies developed to date, self-assembly is a convenient and powerful method for producing ordered structures [5].Self-assembly, the spontaneous organization of discrete components into organized structures, is widespread in nature, such as in protein folding and hybridization of the DNA double helix [3][4][5][6]. Self-assembled structures usually incorporate additional functionalities. For example, phospholipids form a lipid bilayer arou nd the cell as a barrier to the diffusion of ions and proteins, and tropocollagens self-assemble into fi brils collagens that are closely packed in parallel arrays in the tendon, endowing it with excellent mechanical properties [3]. Inspired by nature, molecular self-assembly that is directed through weak, noncovalent interactions has received tremendous attention for the development of systems with ordered structures and resultant functions [1,2,6,7]. Th ese eff orts have resulted in various functional materials based on self-assembled structures including solutions, elastomers, gels and hard materials [1,2,[7][8][9].Gels as a functional system is an emerging fi eld in themselves, possessing a responsiveness to external stimuli such as stress, light, temperature, pH and ionic strength [10]. Gels with molecular assemblies can be produced in organic solvent (organogels) or aqueous solvent (hydrogels). In this review, we focus primarily on functional hydrogels with self-assembled structures. Functional organogels produced by molecular self-assembly have been covered in several excellent reviews [11][12][13][14].Hydrogels as a functional material have their own advantages over organogels. Th e aqueous medium makes hydrogels an ideal candidate for soft biotissue, mimicking its functions for applications such as scaff olds for cell culturing [15,16]. However, producing structured hydrogels is not easy because the ordered structure formation and water content (which introduces fl uctuation) work in opposite directions. Th e typical kinds of molecules capable of forming self-assembled structures in aqueous media are amphiphile, block-copolymer and liquid-crystalline (LC) molecules. Under certain conditions, the ordered structures formed by molecular self-assembly can be frozen in physically or chemically crosslinked hydrogels with additional functionalities, such as anisotropic optical and mechanica...

show abstract

“…In particular, gels and liquid crystals formed through self-assembly of low molecular-weight components have attracted significant attention [185][186][187][188]. In those materials, appropriate design of small molecular structures can lead to drastic changes in the properties of the bulk materials.…”

Section: Gels and Liquid Crystalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges and breakthroughs in recent research on self-assembly

Ariga

Hill

Lee

et al. 2008

Science and Technology of Advanced Materials

739

410

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The controlled fabrication of nanometer-scale objects is without doubt one of the central issues in current science and technology. However, existing fabrication techniques suffer from several disadvantages including size-restrictions and a general paucity of applicable materials. Because of this, the development of alternative approaches based on supramolecular self-assembly processes is anticipated as a breakthrough methodology. This review article aims to comprehensively summarize the salient aspects of self-assembly through the introduction of the recent challenges and breakthroughs in three categories: (i) types of self-assembly in bulk media; (ii) types of components for self-assembly in bulk media; and (iii) self-assembly at interfaces.

show abstract

π-Organogels of Self-Assembled p-Phenylenevinylenes: Soft Materials with Distinct Size, Shape, and Functions

Cited by 848 publications

References 56 publications

Tuning the Amphiphilicity of Building Blocks: Controlled Self‐Assembly and Disassembly for Functional Supramolecular Materials

Tuning the Amphiphilicity of Building Blocks: Controlled Self‐Assembly and Disassembly for Functional Supramolecular Materials

Hydrogels with self-assembling ordered structures and their functions

Challenges and breakthroughs in recent research on self-assembly

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About