Energetics of Competing Chiral Supramolecular Polymers.

Chirality can have unexpected consequences including on properties other than spectroscopic. We show herein that a racemic mixture of bis-urea stereoisomers forms thermodynamically stable supramolecular polymers that result in a more viscous solution than for the pure stereoisomer. The origin of this macroscopic property was probed by characterizing the structure and stability of the assemblies. Both racemic and non-racemic bis-urea stereoisomers form two competing helical supramolecular polymers in solution: a double and a single helical structure at low and high temperature, respectively. The transition temperature between these assemblies, as probed by spectroscopic and calorimetric analyses, is strongly influenced by the composition (by up to 70 °C). A simple model that accounts for the thermodynamics of this system, indicates that the stereochemical defects (chiral mismatches and helix reversals) affect much more the stability of single helices. Therefore, the heterochiral double helical structure predominates over the single helical structure (whilst the opposite holds for the homochiral structures), which explains the aforementioned higher viscosity of the racemic bis-urea solution. This rationale constitutes a new basis to tune the macroscopic properties of the increasing number of supramolecular polymers reported to exhibit competing chiral nanostructures.

A Competing Hydrogen Bonding Pattern to Yield a Thermo-Thickening Supramolecular Polymer.

Introduction of competing interactions in the design of a supramolecular polymer (SP) creates pathway complexity. Ester-bis-ureas contain both a strong bis-urea sticker that is responsible for the build-up of long rod-like objects by hydrogen bonding and ester groups that can interfere with this main pattern in a subtle way. Spectroscopic (FTIR and CD), calorimetric (DSC), and scattering (SANS) techniques show that such ester-bis-ureas self-assemble into three competing rod-like SPs. The previously unreported low-temperature SP is stabilized by hydrogen bonds between the interfering ester groups and the urea moieties. It also features a weak macroscopic alignment of the rods. The other structures form isotropic dispersions of rods stabilized by the more classical urea-urea hydrogen bonding pattern. The transition from the low-temperature structure to the next occurs reversibly by heating and is accompanied by an increase in viscosity, a rare feature for solutions in hydrocarbons.

Structural Control of Bisurea-Based Supramolecular Polymers: Influence of an Ester Moiety.

A few examples of monomers are known that self-assemble into various high molar mass structures in solution. Controlling the morphology of the resulting supramolecular polymers is a highly desirable goal for many applications. Herein, we compare the self-assembling properties of newly prepared ester bisurea monomers with those of previously investigated alkyl bisurea monomers. The ester functionality decreases the hydrogen bonding strength of the bisurea monomers but does not prevent the formation of long assemblies in nonpolar solvents: gels are formed at millimolar concentration. Surprisingly, ester bisureas self-assemble at room temperature into rod-like urea-bonded supramolecular polymers that are different from the ones formed by alkyl bisureas. The rods formed by ester bisurea supramolecular polymers are compact (instead of tubular in the case of alkyl bisureas) and display two monomers in the cross-section (instead of three in the case of alkyl bisureas). The stability of the structures formed by ester bisureas can be easily tuned by changing the nature of the substituent in the α-position of the urea functions and/or the nature of the alkyl side chains.