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Surface‐Assisted Self‐Assembly of a Hydrogel by Proton Diffusion
Author(s) -
Spitzer Daniel,
Marichez Vincent,
Formon Georges J. M.,
Besenius Pol,
Hermans Thomas M.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
angewandte chemie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1521-3757
pISSN - 0044-8249
DOI - 10.1002/ange.201806668
Subject(s) - nucleation , supramolecular chemistry , chemical physics , materials science , diffusion , nanotechnology , kinetics , self assembly , chemical engineering , molecule , chemistry , thermodynamics , organic chemistry , physics , quantum mechanics , engineering
Controlling supramolecular growth at solid surfaces is of great importance to expand the scope of supramolecular materials. A dendritic benzene‐1,3,5‐tricarboxamide peptide conjugate is described in which assembly can be triggered by a pH jump. Stopped‐flow kinetics and mathematical modeling provide a quantitative understanding of the nucleation, elongation, and fragmentation behavior in solution. To assemble the molecule at a solid–liquid interface, we use proton diffusion from the bulk. The latter needs to be slower than the lag phase of nucleation to progressively grow a hydrogel outwards from the surface. Our method of surface‐assisted self‐assembly is generally applicable to other gelators, and can be used to create structured supramolecular materials.