Studies on self-Sorting, sergeant driven and polymer confined self assemblies

我课课组的主要课题是研究氢键或pi相互作用介导的功能性有机小分子的自组装的结构、形态和凝胶化，以及这种自组装在聚合物基体中的限制。由于在这些情况下形态的可调性，在光电、光子和纳米科学领域的潜在应用是很多的。在这项拨款申请中，我们建议关注自组装的三个方面，即(i)自我分类，其中只偏好自我而避免非自我；（ii）士官-士兵现象的影响和（iii）聚合物基质中的约束。

The major theme of my research group is the studies of structure, morphology and gelation of hydrogen bond or Pi-interaction mediated self assembly of functional organic small molecules, and such self assembly when confined in a polymer matrix. Due to the tunability of the morphology in these cases, potential applications are many, in the areas of optoelectronic, photonic and nanoscience applications. In this grant application, we propose to focus on three aspects of self assembly, namely (i) self-sorting in which there is preference only for self and avoidance of non-self; (ii) effect of sergeant-soldier phenomenon and (iii) confinement in a polymer matrix. Self-Sorting: Bis-carbamate and bisurea molecules have two hydrogen bonding sites, and but different side chains. In this proposal, we plan to study the preference for the "self" and excluding the "non-self" upon crystallization of blends of these homologous molecules with even and odd number of methylene groups in the side chain, including those with phenyl terminal groups. We plan to study the self-sorting behavior during self-assembly, in the organo-gels of blends of these homologous molecules. Sergeant-Soldier Phenomenon: In this proposal, we plan to study this behavior with biscarbamates with even and odd alkyl side chains. We will add specific polymers such as polypeptides to see if the shape of the polymer influences the gel fiber morphology. We will also explore if graphoepitaxy developes on patterned substrates upon adding carbon nanotubes (CNT). Polymer Confined Self Assembly: Controlled aggregate morphology of functional small molecules in polymer is preferred for photogeneration in opto-electronic devices . We plan to study the effect of the type of small molecule, the type of polymer, and solvent on self assembly of these molecules in the polymer as films and gels. The functional small molecule will be attached to a polymer and its self assembly studied. Graphoepitaxy with carbon nanotubes (CNT) will also be studied.