Linker Engineering toward Tunable Emission Behavior of Porous Interpenetrated Zr-Organic Frameworks.

Conjugated molecules with donor-acceptor-donor (D-A-D) moieties have garnered significant attention for their ability to form luminescent metal-organic frameworks (LMOFs). D-A-D molecules feature tunable bandgaps, which can be varied systematically to control the fluorescence wavelength of LMOFs. In this study, we prepared and characterized the fluorescence properties of two porous interpenetrated Zr-organic frameworks (PIZOFs) constructed using 4,4'-(benzo[c][1,2,5]selenadiazole-4,7-diylbis(ethyne-2,1-diyl))dibenzoic acid (L-Se) or 4,4'-(benzo[c][1,2,5]thiadiazole-4,7-diylbis(ethyne-2,1-diyl))dibenzoic acid (L-S) as linkers. The corresponding MOFs are denoted as PIZOF-Se and PIZOF-S, respectively. Through our investigation, we explored the correlation between the structure of the frameworks and their respective optical properties. Our findings revealed that there are distinct differences in the fluorescence properties of the two PIZOFs. Specifically, the fluorescence of PIZOF-S is red-shifted from that characteristic of the corresponding linker, L-S. By contrast, the fluorescence of PIZOF-Se is substantially blue-shifted from that of linker L-Se. The emission of mixed-linker MOFs is explored by combining L-S or L-Se with structurally analogous, but nonfluorescent linker, 4,4'-((perfluoro-1,4-phenylene)bis(ethyne-2,1-diyl))dibenzoic acid (L-F). Based on steady-state and time-resolved photoluminescence experiments, as well as confocal fluorescence microscopy combined with fluorescence lifetime imaging (FILM), we demonstrated that linker engineering is an effective method to tune the emission behavior of LMOFs.

Characterization of Excited-State Electronic Structure in Diblock π-Conjugated Oligomers with Adjustable Linker Electronic Coupling.

Diblock conjugated oligomers are π-conjugated molecules that contain two segments having distinct frontier orbital energies and HOMO-LUMO gap offsets. These oligomers are of fundamental interest to understand how the distinct π-conjugated segments interact and modify their excited state properties. The current paper reports a study of two series of diblock oligomers that contain oligothiophene (Tn) and 4,7-bis(2-thienyl)-2,1,3-benzothiadiazole (TBT) segments that are coupled by either ethynyl (-C≡C-) or trans-(-C≡C-)2Pt(II)(PBu3)2 acetylide linkers. In these structures, the Tn segment is electron rich (donor), and the TBT is electron poor (acceptor). The diblock oligomers are characterized by steady-state and time-resolved spectroscopy, including UV-visible absorption, fluorescence, fluorescence lifetimes, and ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy. Studies are compared in several solvents of different polarity and with different excitation wavelengths. The results reveal that the (-C≡C-) linked oligomers feature a delocalized excited state that takes on a charge transfer (CT) character in more polar media. In the (-C≡C-)2Pt(II)(PBu3)2-linked oligomers, there is weak coupling between the Tn and TBT segments. Consequently, short wavelength excitation selectively excites the Tn segment, which then undergoes ultrafast energy transfer (~1 ps) to afford a TBT-localized excited state.

Photophysics and charge transfer in oligo(thiophene) based conjugated diblock oligomers.

This paper reports an investigation of the electronic structure and photophysical properties of two "diblock" π-conjugated oligomers (T4-TBT and T8-TBT) that feature electron rich tetra(thiophene) (T4) or octa(thiophene) (T8) segments linked to an electron poor 4,7-bis(2-thienyl)-2,1,3-benzothiadiazole (TBT) moiety. Electrochemistry and UV-visible absorption spectroscopy reveals that the diblock oligomers display redox and absorption features that can be attributed to the Tn and TBT units. Density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT (TDDFT) calculations support the experimental electrochemistry and optical spectroscopy results, suggesting that the frontier orbitals on the diblock oligomers retain characteristics of the individual π-conjugated segments. However, low energy optical transitions are anticipated to arise from Tn to TBT charge transfer. Fluorescence spectroscopy on the diblock oligomers reveals that the oligomers feature strongly solvent dependent fluorescence. In non-polar solvents (hexane, toluene), the emission is structured with a moderate Stokes shift; however, in more polar solvents the emission becomes broader, and red-shifts significantly. Transient absorption spectroscopy on timescales from femtoseconds (fs) to microseconds (µs) reveals that in non-polar solvents excitation produces a singlet excited state (LE) that decays uniformly to the ground state in parallel with intersystem crossing to a triplet state. By contrast, in more polar solvents, excitation produces a very short-lived excited state (1-3 ps) which evolves rapidly into a second excited state that is attributed to the charge transfer (CT) state. The fast dynamics are associated with crossing from the LE state, which is populated initially by photoexcitation, into the CT state, which then decays to the ground state. The photophysical properties and dynamics of the LE and CT excited states are very similar for T4-TBT and T8-TBT, suggesting that the length of the oligo(thiophene) segment does not have a strong influence on the energy, structure or dynamics of the LE and CT excited states.

Phosphates Induced H-Type or J-Type Aggregation of Cationic Porphyrins with Varied Side Chains.

Non-covalent interactions have been extensively used to fabricate nanoscale architectures in supramolecular chemistry. However, the biomimetic self-assembly of diverse nanostructures in aqueous solution with reversibility induced by different important biomolecules remains a challenge. Here, we report the synthesis and aqueous self-assembly of two chiral cationic porphyrins substituted with different types of side chains (branched or linear). Helical H-aggregates are induced by pyrophosphate (PPi) as indicated by circular dichroism (CD) measurement, while J-aggregates are formed with adenosine triphosphate (ATP) for the two porphyrins. By modifying the peripheral side chains from linear to a branched structure, more pronounced H- or J-type aggregation was promoted through the interactions between cationic porphyrins and the biological phosphate ions. Moreover, the phosphate-induced self-assembly of the cationic porphyrins is reversible in the presence of the enzyme alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and repeated addition of phosphates.

Fluorescence spectral shape analysis for nucleotide identification.

We report a conjugated polyelectrolyte fluorescence-based biosensor P-C-3 and a general methodology to evaluate spectral shape recognition to identify biomolecules using artificial intelligence. By using well-defined analytes, we demonstrate that the fluorescence spectral shape of P-C-3 is sensitive to minor structural changes and exhibits distinct signature patterns for different analytes. A method was also developed to select useful features to reduce computational complexity and prevent overfitting of the data. It was found that the normalized intensity of 3 to 5 selected wavelengths was sufficient for the fluorescence biosensor to classify 13 distinct nucleotides and distinguish as little as single base substitutions at distinct positions in the primary sequence of oligonucleotides rapidly with nearly 100% classification accuracy. Photophysical studies led to a model to explain the mechanism of these fluorescence spectral shape changes, which provides theoretical support for applying this method in complicated biological systems. Using the feature selection algorithm to measure the relative intensity of a few selected wavelengths significantly reduces measurement time, demonstrating the potential for fluorescence spectrum shape analysis in high-throughput and high-content screening.

Ultrafast Excited-State Dynamics in trans-(N-Heterocyclic carbene)platinum(II) Acetylide Complexes.

This study probes femto- and picosecond excited-state dynamics of a series of N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) ligand-containing platinum(II) complexes of the type trans-(NHC)2PtII(CC-Ar)2, where CC-Ar is an arylacetylide. By using femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy, two dynamic processes are observed: an ultrafast singlet → triplet intersystem crossing (<0.3 ps), followed by geometric/electronic relaxation that takes place on a 2-10 ps time scale. The geometric/electronic relaxation is attributed to ligand torsional modes, mainly arising from twisting of the aryl units relative to the square-planar PtL4 unit. The dynamics of this relaxation process depend somewhat on steric constraints induced by substituent groups attached to the (benz)imidazole and phenyl ligands. The geometric relaxation dynamics slow with increasing solvent viscosity. The experimental studies also reveal that the different conformers can be photoselected by varying the excitation at different near-UV wavelengths. To corroborate the experimental findings, density functional theory calculations were conducted to probe the effects of geometry and steric hindrance on the ground-state energy surface. The calculations suggest that the barrier for torsion of the CC-Ar units increases as N-substituents on the NHC ligands increase in the order CH3 < cyclohexyl < n-butyl and as the CC-Ar units are substituted in the 3 and 5 positions with tert-butyl groups.

Photoinduced Intramolecular Electron Transfer in Phenylene Ethynylene Naphthalimide Oligomers.

This paper reports a photophysical investigation of a series of phenylene ethynylene oligomers (OPE) that are end-substituted with a 1,8-naphthalene imide (NI) acceptor. The NI acceptor is attached to the terminus of the OPEs via an ethynylene (-C≡C-) unit that is linked at the 4-position of the NI unit. A series of three oligomers is investigated, OPE1-NI, OPE3-NI, and OPE5-NI, which contain 1, 3, and 5 phenylene ethynylene repeat units, respectively. The properties of the OPEn-NI series are compared to a corresponding set of unsubstituted OPEs, OPE3 and OPE5, which contain 3 and 5 phenylene ethynylene repeats, respectively. The photophysics of all the compounds are interrogated using a variety of techniques including steady-state absorption, steady-state fluorescence, two-photon absorption, time-resolved fluorescence, and transient absorption spectroscopy on femtosecond-to-microsecond time scales. The effect of solvent polarity on the properties of the oligomers is examined. The results show that the NI-substituted oligomers feature a lowest charge transfer (CT) excited state, where the OPE segment acts as the donor and the NI moiety is the acceptor (OPEn•+-NI•-). The absorption spectra in one-photon and two-photon exhibit a clear manifold of absorption features that can be attributed to direct CT absorption. In moderately polar solvents, the emission is dominated by a broad, solvatochromic band that is due to radiative decay from the CT excited state. Ultrafast transient absorption provides evidence for initial population of a locally excited state (LE) which in moderately polar solvents rapidly (∼1 ps) evolves into the CT excited state. The structure, spectroscopy, and dynamics of the CT state are qualitatively similar for OPE3-NI and OPE5-NI, suggesting that delocalization in the OPE segment does not have much effect on the structure or energetics of the CT excited state.

Structure of a Zinc Porphyrin-Substituted Bacterioferritin and Photophysical Properties of Iron Reduction.

The iron storage protein bacterioferritin (Bfr) binds up to 12 hemes b at specific sites in its protein shell. The heme b can be substituted with the photosensitizer Zn(II)-protoporphyrin IX (ZnPP), and photosensitized reductive iron release from the ferric oxyhydroxide {[FeO(OH)]n} core inside the ZnPP-Bfr protein shell was demonstrated [Cioloboc, D., et al. (2018) Biomacromolecules 19, 178-187]. This report describes the X-ray crystal structure of ZnPP-Bfr and the effects of loaded iron on the photophysical properties of the ZnPP. The crystal structure of ZnPP-Bfr shows a unique six-coordinate zinc in the ZnPP with two axial methionine sulfur ligands. Steady state and transient ultraviolet-visible absorption and luminescence spectroscopies show that irradiation with light overlapping the Soret absorption causes oxidation of ZnPP to the cation radical ZnPP•+ only when the ZnPP-Bfr is loaded with [FeO(OH)]n. Femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy shows that this photooxidation occurs from the singlet excited state (1ZnPP*) on the picosecond time scale and is consistent with two oxidizing populations of Fe3+, which do not appear to involve the ferroxidase center iron. We propose that [FeO(OH)]n clusters at or near the inner surface of the protein shell are responsible for ZnPP photooxidation. Hopping of the photoinjected electrons through the [FeO(OH)]n would effectively cause migration of Fe2+ through the inner cavity to pores where it exits the protein. Reductive iron mobilization is presumed to be a physiological function of Bfrs. The phototriggered Fe3+ reduction could be used to identify the sites of iron mobilization within the Bfr protein shell.

Excitation-Wavelength-Dependent Photoinduced Electron Transfer in a π-Conjugated Diblock Oligomer.

Control of photoinduced electron transfer through selective excitation of a π-conjugated diblock oligomeric system featuring tetrathiophene (T4) and tetra(phenylene ethynylene) (PE4) donor blocks capped with a naphthalene diimide (NDI) acceptor (T4PE4NDI) is demonstrated. Each π-conjugated oligomeric segment has its own discrete ionization potential, electron affinity, and optical band gap which provides an absorption profile that has specific wavelengths that offer selective excitation of the PE4 and T4 blocks. Therefore, T4PE4NDI can be selectively excited to form a charge-separated state via ultrafast photoinduced electron transfer from the PE4 segment to NDI when excited at 370 nm, but it does not produce a charge-separated state when excited at 420 nm (T4). Picosecond transient absorption techniques were performed to probe the excited-state dynamics, revealing ultrafast charge separation (∼4 ps) occurring from the PE4 segment to NDI when excited at 370 nm, followed by delocalization of the hole over the T4 segment. On the contrary, electron transfer is suppressed with excitation at longer wavelengths (≥420 nm), where the spectrum is dominated by the T4 unit. The rate of electron transfer and charge recombination was investigated versus the length of the PE bridge unit in oligomers featuring zero and two PE units (T4NDI and T4PE2NDI). The rate of charge recombination decreases from 1.2 × 1011 to 1.0 × 109 s-1 with increasing bridge length between the T4 and NDI components (T4NDI to T4PE4NDI). Furthermore, wavelength-dependent photoinduced electron transfer was not observed in either T4NDI or T4PE2NDI due to an insufficient PEn bridge length. This work demonstrates the ability to use optical wavelength to control photoinduced electron transfer in a fully π-conjugated oligomer.

Direct Observation of the Reduction of Aryl Halides by a Photoexcited Perylene Diimide Radical Anion.

The ability of the doublet excited state of perylene diimide anion radical 2(PDI-•)* to reduce aromatic electron acceptors was probed by picosecond time-resolved transient absorption (TA) spectroscopy. Excitation of PDI-• produces visible TA due to 2(PDI-•)* that decays with τ = 160 ps. Aromatic electron acceptors with varying reduction potential quench 2(PDI-•)* and, in some cases, give a new visible region absorption that is attributed to the products of bimolecular photoinduced electron transfer, 2(PDI-•)* + Ar-X → PDI + Ar-X-•. Stern-Volmer quenching of 2(PDI-•)* accomplished with a series of acceptors provides bimolecular quenching rate constants as a function of acceptor reduction potential. Rehm-Weller analysis of the electron transfer quenching data affords the potential for the (*PDI-•/PDI) electrochemical half-reaction as -1.87 V vs SCE.

Excited-State Turn-On of Aurophilicity and Tunability of Relativistic Effects in a Series of Digold Triazolates Synthesized via iClick.

iClick reactions between Au(I) acetylides PPh3Au-C≡CR, where R = nitrophenyl (PhNO2), phenyl (Ph), thiophene (Th), bithiophene (biTh), and dimethyl aniline (PhNMe2), and Au(I)-azide PPh3AuN3 provide digold complexes of the general formula R-1,5-bis-triphenylphosphinegold(I) 1,2,3-triazolate (Au2-R). Within the digold triazolate complexes the Au(I) atoms are held in close proximity but beyond the distance typically observed for aurophilic bonding. Though no bond exists in the ground state, time-dependent density functional theory interrogation of the complexes reveals excited states with significant aurophilic bonding. The series of complexes allows for tuning of the excited-state "turn-on" of aurophilicity, where ligand to metal charge transfer (LMCT) induces the aurophilic bonding. Complexes containing ligand-localized excited states, however, do not exhibit aurophilicity in the excited state. As a control experiment, a monogold complex was synthesized. The computed excited state of the monogold species exhibited LMCT to the gold ion as in the dinuclear cases, but without a partnering gold ion only a distinct N-Au-P bending occurs, revealing a potential mechanism for the excited-state turn-on of aurophilic bonding. Analysis of the steady-state electronic spectra indicates that LMCT states are achievable for compounds with sufficiently strong electron-donating ligands, and in digold complexes this is associated with enhanced fluorescence, suggestive of an aurophilic interaction.

Microporous Hydrogen-Bonded Organic Framework for Highly Efficient Turn-Up Fluorescent Sensing of Aniline.

A microporous three-dimensional (3D) hydrogen-bonded organic framework (HOF-20) has been constructed from an aromatic-rich tetratopic carboxylic acid, 5-(2,6-bis(4-carboxyphenyl)pyridin-4-yl)isophthalic acid (H4BCPIA). The activated HOF-20a has a moderately high Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area of 1323 m2 g-1 and excellent stability in water and HCl aqueous solution. HOF-20 exhibits highly efficient turn-up fluorescent sensing of aniline in water with a detection limit of 2.24 µM and is selective toward aniline in the presence of aromatic interferents, owing to the hydrogen bonding and edge-to-face π-π stacking interactions between the HOF-20 host and the guest aniline molecules, as demonstrated in the single-crystal X-ray structure of HOF-20⊃aniline. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations further demonstrate that the recognition of aniline molecules by HOF-20 could restrict the rotation of the aromatic rings in H4BCPIA linkers, reducing the nonradiative decay pathways upon photoexcitation and subsequently enhancing the fluorescence intensity.

Visible Light-Induced Borylation of C-O, C-N, and C-X Bonds.

Boronic acids are centrally important functional motifs and synthetic precursors. Visible light-induced borylation may provide access to structurally diverse boronates, but a broadly efficient photocatalytic borylation method that can effect borylation of a wide range of substrates, including strong C-O bonds, remains elusive. Herein, we report a general, metal-free visible light-induced photocatalytic borylation platform that enables borylation of electron-rich derivatives of phenols and anilines, chloroarenes, as well as other haloarenes. The reaction exhibits excellent functional group tolerance, as demonstrated by the borylation of a range of structurally complex substrates. Remarkably, the reaction is catalyzed by phenothiazine, a simple organic photocatalyst with MW < 200 that mediates the previously unachievable visible light-induced single electron reduction of phenol derivatives with reduction potentials as negative as approximately - 3 V versus SCE by a proton-coupled electron transfer mechanism. Mechanistic studies point to the crucial role of the photocatalyst-base interaction.

An Application Exploiting Aurophilic Bonding and iClick to Produce White Light Emitting Materials.

The paper focuses on exploiting aurophilic bonding to produce white light emitting materials. Inorganic Click (iClick) is employed to link two or four Au(I) metal ions through a triazolate bridge. Depending on the choice of phosphine ligand (PEt3 or PPh3), dinuclear Au2-FO or tetranuclear Au4-FO complexes can be controllably synthesized (FO = 2-(9,9-dioctylfluoreneyl-)). The iClick products Au2-FO and Au4-FO are characterized by combustion analysis and multinuclear NMR, TOCSY 1D, 1H-13C gHMBC, and 1H-13C gHSQC. In addition, the photophysical properties of Au2-FO and Au4-FO were examined in THF solution. Transient absorption spectroscopy was employed to elucidate the excited state features of the gold compounds. Solution processed OLEDs were fabricated and characterized, which gave white light electroluminescence with CIE coordinates (0.34, 0.36), as seen referenced to CIE standard illuminant D65 (0.31, 0.32). TDDFT computational analysis of Au2-FO and Au4-FO reveals the origin of light emission. In the case of Au4-FO, direct excitation leads to increased aurophilic bonding in the excited state, and as a result the emission profile is broadened to cover a larger region of the visible spectrum, thus giving white light emission. Designing molecules that can access or increase aurophilic bonding in the excited state provides another tool for fine-tuning the emission profiles of gold complexes.

Fluorescent Charge-Transfer Excited States in Acceptor Derivatized Thiophene Oligomers.

A family of thiophene oligomers with lengths of 3, 4, 5, 6, and 8 units were synthesized and end-capped with a strongly coupled naphthalimide acceptor (TnNIF) which produces an emissive intramolecular charge-transfer state. A thorough photophysical study was performed on the oligomers including UV-vis absorption, fluorescence, and picosecond transient absorption spectroscopy to investigate the effect of thiophene oligomer length/donor strength and solvent polarity on the intramolecular charge-transfer properties. In hexane, the TnNIF compounds behave in a manner similar to that of oligothiophenes as fluorescence from a local singlet excited state and intersystem crossing to the triplet state dominates the excited-state dynamics. Interestingly, the excited-state dynamics become much more complicated with increasing solvent polarity, from ether to acetone, where emission from a charge-transfer state (δ+TnNIF-δ) and quenching from a charge-separated state (•+TnNIF-•) become competitive. A mechanism is proposed that consists of a four-state diagram including a locally excited singlet state (1TnNIF), a triplet state (3TnNIF), an emissive charge-transfer state, and a nonemissive charge-separated state. The population of each of these states is highly dependent on both the thiophene oligomer length and solvent polarity which results in a mixture of excited states.

Prediction of Internal Reorganization Energy in Photoinduced Electron Transfer Processes of Molecular Dyads.

A novel theoretical methodology is proposed to estimate the magnitude of internal reorganization energy for electron transfer and charge recombination processes in donor-bridge-acceptor (D-B-A) type molecular dyads. The potential energy surface for each process is plotted for the shortest path by assuming a displaced but slightly distorted harmonic oscillator model. Structural changes occurring upon photoexcitation and ionization were exploited to calculate the activation energies needed for electron transfer reactions with the aid of involved vibrational modes. D-B-A dyads consisting of octathiophene (T8) paired with three (di)imide acceptors (naphthalene diimide (NDI), benzene diimide (BDI), and naphthalimide (NI)) were studied as model systems for theoretical calculations. It has been found that T8NDI and T8BDI possess very low activation energies for both forward electron transfer and charge recombination, and hence the rates for relevant processes should be very rapid. In contrast, the activation energies for such processes for T8NI were found to be relatively large, and free energy estimations predict that the charge recombination mechanism in T8NI falls into the inverted regime of Marcus semiclassical electron transfer theory. All of the calculated properties of the dyads are in very good agreement with the available experimental data, suggesting the suitability of the proposed theoretical approach in revealing the photoinduced electron transfer mechanisms of molecular dyads.

Free Energy Dependence of Photoinduced Electron Transfer in Octathiophene-Diimide Dyads.

Donor-acceptor dyads consisting of octathiophene (T8) paired with three (di)imide acceptors (naphthalene diimide (NDI), benzene diimide (BDI), and naphthalimide (NI)) were synthesized and probed for their photoinduced forward electron transfer (ET) and charge recombination kinetics by using ultrafast transient absorption (TA) spectroscopy. The three acceptors have different electron affinities, leading to variation in the energy of the charge-separated state and the driving force (ΔG) for forward ET and charge recombination. Analysis of the TA spectra and kinetics allows assignment of rates for forward ET and charge recombination for each of the oligomers. Electrochemistry and photoluminescence spectroscopy are used to determine the ΔG values for the ET processes. For two of the oligomers (T8NDI and T8BDI), the rates for forward ET and charge recombination are very rapid (k > 3 × 1010 s-1). By contrast, for the third oligomer (T8NI), the rates for both processes are considerably slower (k < 5 × 109 s-1). Analysis of the rate/free energy correlation for the series of oligomers reveals generally good agreement with the Marcus semiclassical theory. In all of the oligomers, the ET reactions are nonadiabatic, in part, due to weak coupling caused by out-of-plane twisting of the phenylene spacer that lies between the T8 segment and the (di)imide acceptors. The rapid ET dynamics for T8NDI and T8BDI are explained as arising due to the processes occurring near the barrierless region (-ΔG ≈ λ) or slightly into the Marcus inverted region (-ΔG > λ). The slower dynamics for T8NI are explained as arising because the forward ET is weakly exothermic, whereas charge recombination is deep into the inverted region. This study is the first to produce experimental results that match a full Marcus bell-shaped curve with ET rates in the normal, barrrierless, and inverted regions in dyads based on a π-conjugated oligomer donor.

Detergent-induced self-assembly and controllable photosensitizer activity of diester phenylene ethynylenes.

Photodynamic therapy, in which malignant tissue is killed by targeted light exposure following administration of a photosensitizer, can be a valuable treatment modality but currently relies on passive transport and local irradiation to avoid off-target oxidation. We present a system of excited-state control for truly local delivery of singlet oxygen. An anionic phenylene ethynylene oligomer is initially quenched by water, producing minimal fluorescence and no measurable singlet oxygen generation. When presented with a binding partner, in this case an oppositely charged surfactant, changes in solvent microenvironment result in fluorescence unquenching, restoration of intersystem crossing to the triplet state, and singlet oxygen generation, as assayed by transient absorption spectroscopy and chemical trapping. This solvation-controlled photosensitizer model has possible applications as a theranostic agent for, for example, amyloid diseases.

Adenosine Triphosphate Templated Self-Assembly of Cationic Porphyrin into Chiral Double Superhelices and Enzyme-Mediated Disassembly.

Self-assembly of small molecules through noncovalent interactions into nanoscale architectures has been extensively studied in supramolecular chemistry. However, it is still challenging to develop a biologically inspired self-assembly system that functions in water with complex structure and dynamics by analogy with those found in nature. Here, we report a new water-soluble cationic porphyrin that undergoes adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-templated self-assembly into right-handed double-helical supramolecular structures. Direct observation of the porphyrin-ATP assembly by transmission electron microscopy has been accomplished. The assemblies consist of superhelical fibers with length greater than 1 µm and width ∼46 nm. The chiral superhelical fibers show reversible disassembly to monomers upon hydrolysis of ATP catalyzed by alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and the nanofibers can be re-formed with subsequent addition of ATP. Moreover, transient self-assembly of a chiral double helix is formed when ALP is present to consume ATP.

Elucidating the Effects of Solvating Side Chains on the Rigidity and Aggregation Tendencies of Conjugated Polymers with Molecular Dynamics Simulations Using DFT Tight Binding.

Poly(phenylene ethynylene) (PPE) and a series of PPE derivatives were studied using density functional theory tight binding to generate molecular dynamics simulations in the gas phase. Dihedral angles between adjacent phenylene units were measured over time to generate a histogram of conjugation lengths, where the conjugation length was defined by planarity. The average effective conjugation lengths for these polymers were extracted from this data. Notably, it was found that PPE with alkoxy substituents on the phenylene ring of each repeat unit is attributed to causing an increased average conjugation length relative to unsubstituted PPE from 4.7 to 6.4 repeat units. Comparatively, alkyl substituents caused a decrease in the conjugation length to 4.5 repeat units. The methods developed here were extended to a wider series of PPE derivatives, where a direct link was found between polymer planarity and the electron-donating/-withdrawing ability of substituents. These results indicate that the solvating side chains frequently employed in conjugated polymers have an innate effect on the rigidity of the polymer backbone.