Supramolecular Copolymers Under Kinetic, Thermodynamic, or Pathway-Switching Control

Area of Science:

• Supramolecular chemistry
• Materials science
• Organic chemistry

Background:

• Supramolecular copolymers offer significant functional potential.
• Limited strategies exist for creating well-defined sequence structures in small molecule co-assemblies, particularly complex crystalline block co-assemblies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To address the challenge of synthesizing complex crystalline block co-assemblies.
• To design iridium(III) complexes with unique self-assembly pathways for aqueous systems.

Main Methods:

• Design and synthesis of two specific iridium(III) complexes (1 and 2).
• Utilizing kinetic and thermodynamic control to achieve distinct block and random co-assemblies.
• Implementing a pathway-switching approach by adjusting water content to control assembly formation.

Main Results:

• Successfully synthesized block and random co-assemblies of iridium(III) complexes 1 and 2.
• Demonstrated kinetic control for block co-assemblies and thermodynamic control for random co-assemblies.
• Developed an unprecedented pathway-switching method using water content for orthogonal control.

Conclusions:

• The developed co-assembly strategies provide a novel route for synthesizing crystalline co-assemblies of small molecules.
• This work is expected to facilitate the construction of sophisticated organic heterostructures.
• The findings offer a new perspective on controlling self-assembly pathways for complex molecular architectures.