Premium
Kinetically Controlled Sequential Growth of Surface‐Grafted Chiral Supramolecular Copolymers
Author(s) -
Frisch Hendrik,
Fritz EvaCorinna,
Stricker Friedrich,
Schmüser Lars,
Spitzer Daniel,
Weidner Tobias,
Ravoo Bart Jan,
Besenius Pol
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.201601048
Subject(s) - copolymer , monomer , supramolecular chemistry , materials science , polymer , polymer chemistry , polymerization , kinetics , supramolecular assembly , nanotechnology , chemical engineering , chemistry , molecule , organic chemistry , composite material , engineering , physics , quantum mechanics
We report a facile strategy to grow supramolecular copolymers on Au surfaces by successively exposing a surface‐anchored monomer to solutions of oppositely charged peptide comonomers. Charge regulation on the active chain end of the polymer sufficiently slows down the kinetics of the self‐assembly process to produce kinetically trapped copolymers at near‐neutral pH. We thereby achieve architectural control at three levels: The β‐sheet sequences direct the polymerization away from the surface, the height of the supramolecular copolymer brushes is well‐controlled by the stepwise nature of the alternating copolymer growth, and 2D spatial resolution is realized by using micropatterned initiating monomers. The programmable nature of the resulting architectures renders this concept attractive for the development of customized biomaterials or chiral interfaces for optoelectronics and sensor applications.