Supramolecular bending and twisting in the hierarchical self-assembly of monodisperse mesogenic oligomers.

ABSTRACT: Understanding how different forms of supramolecular curvature arise during assembly is crucial to designing and tuning the microstructure of hierarchically self-assembled materials. Here, we show that in crystalline phases of mesogenic oligomers, the oligomer length is a critical parameter that determines the type of curvature (Gaussian or cylindrical) exhibited by the self-assembled structures. We use iterative exponential growth to synthesize monodisperse mesogenic oligomers ranging from dimer to octamer. By analyzing their phase behavior and microstructure, we elucidate how length-dependent thermodynamic and kinetic effects tune their hierarchical degree of ordering. The oligomers' length-dependent crystalline order drives the formation of scrolled sheets in shorter oligomers and twiste

SUBMITTER: Chan CLC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12366694 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature