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Elucidating the Structure of the Pm $\bar 3$ n Cubic Phase of Supramolecular Dendrimers through the Modification of their Aliphatic to Aromatic Volume Ratio
Author(s) -
Percec Virgil,
Peterca Mihai,
Tsuda Yusuke,
Rosen Brad M.,
Uchida Satoshi,
Imam Mohammad R.,
Ungar Goran,
Heiney Paul A.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
chemistry – a european journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.687
H-Index - 242
eISSN - 1521-3765
pISSN - 0947-6539
DOI - 10.1002/chem.200901324
Subject(s) - dendrimer , supramolecular chemistry , alkyl , crystallography , chemistry , amphiphile , materials science , crystal structure , polymer chemistry , organic chemistry , copolymer , polymer
Abstract The synthesis, and structural and retrostructural analysis of a library of second‐generation conical dendrons that self‐assemble into spherical supramolecular dendrimers is reported. This library consists of amphiphilic dendrons with n ‐alkyl groups containing from 4 to 16 carbon atoms. The dendrons containing 6 to 16 carbon atoms in their n ‐alkyl groups self‐assemble into spherical supramolecular dendrimers that self‐organize in a Pm $\bar 3$ n cubic lattice. The structural and retrostructural analysis of the Pm $\bar 3$ n lattices generated from the supramolecular dendrimers demonstrated that the volume of the aromatic core of the spherical dendrimers is not dependent on the number of carbon atoms from their alkyl groups. This result facilitated the calculation of the average values of the absolute electron density of the aliphatic and aromatic domains of the spherical supramolecular dendrimers. The relative intensity of the higher order diffraction peaks of the Pm $\bar 3$ n lattice increases as the volume of the aliphatic part of the sphere mediated by the number of carbon atoms in the n ‐alkyl groups decreases. This study demonstrates the maximum increase of the relative intensity of the higher order diffraction peaks of the Pm $\bar 3$ n lattice generated from non‐hollow supramolecular dendrimers.