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Updated: Jul 11, 2025

Controlling the Size, Shape and Stability of Supramolecular Polymers in Water
Published on: August 2, 2012
Polyelectrolyte chain conformation matters in macroscopic supramolecular self-assembly
Qian Zhang1, Cuiling Lin1, Chen Chen1
1State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Beijing Laboratory of Biomedical Materials, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, 100029, China. shi@mail.buct.edu.cn.
Abstract:
We demonstrate molecular-conformation-dependent macroscopic supramolecular self-assembly (MSA) driven by electrostatic interactions. Evidence from single molecular force spectroscopy reveals that polyelectrolytes modified on MSA component surfaces make MSA possible with a loop conformation, while those with a flat conformation lead to no assembly, which is attributed to distinct molecular mobility. We believe that this finding is also applicable in fundamental phenomena such as surface adsorption and adhesion regarding polymers.
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