Sequential Synthesis and Secondary Structure Analysis of Two Classes of Perylene Bisimide Oligomers.

An iterative step-by-step synthetic approach is employed to form perylene bisimide (PBI) oligomers of defined sizes by connecting the PBI units through their imide positions via a benzyl linker. The versatility of this approach was showcased by its successful implementation on two different PBI building blocks to achieve two separate series of oligomers (up to the pentamer) with modulated conformations: one with an open random coil oligomer and one with an H-type foldamer architecture.