From isodesmic to highly cooperative: reverting the supramolecular polymerization mechanism in water by fine monomer design

Chem Commun (Camb). 2018 Apr 19;54(33):4112-4115. doi: 10.1039/c8cc01259h.

Abstract

Two structurally-similar discotic molecules able to self-assemble in water, forming supramolecular fibers, are reported. While both self-assembled polymers are indistinguishable from a morphological point-of-view, a dramatic change in their polymerization mechanism is observed (i.e., one self-assemble via an isodesmic mechanism, while the other shows one of the highest cooperativity values).