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Updated: Jun 19, 2026

Controlling the Size, Shape and Stability of Supramolecular Polymers in Water
Published on: August 2, 2012
Metal-ligand coordination-induced self-assembly of bolaamphiphiles bearing bipyrimidine
Bo Song1, Guanglu Wu, Zhiqiang Wang
1Key Lab of Optoelectronics and Molecular Engineering, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
A new type of bolaamphiphile bearing bipyrimidine (bpym-8) has been designed and synthesized. The bipyrimidine moiety allows for metal-ligand coordination, thereby influencing the self-assembly of the bolaamphiphile. Before coordination, bpym-8 self-assembles in water to form spherical aggregates. An interesting finding is that the coordination of the Cu(II) ion with bipyrimidine can induce the assembly of bpym-8 to change from spheres to clustered aggregates. It should be noted that the assembly of bpym-8 can be reversibly converted back by removing the Cu(II) ion from the coordination. This study presents a new type of bolaamphiphile that is able to coordinate with metal ions, which may provide a new clue in fabricating reversibly tunable supramolecular nanomaterials.
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