New Materials Based on the Self-Assembly of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons

材料的性质不仅取决于组成分子的性质，还取决于这些分子的组织方式和相互作用。因此，设计具有特定所需性能的新材料需要控制分子结构和这些分子的自组装。通过合成化学，我们可以制备新的分子，并通过进行特定的结构修饰来控制分子特性。我们还可以通过引入指导分子自组装的单元来控制这些分子的组织。拟议的研究重点是通过制造基于多环芳烃的刚性分子构建块来设计和合成新材料，这些分子构建块将以可预测的方式组装，最终使我们能够控制材料的特性。研究将集中在两个领域。 该研究的第一个目标是制造具有多个柔性链的新型多环芳烃。 这些扁平的盘状分子倾向于堆叠成柱状并形成液晶相。 这些液晶相是介于固体和液体之间的物质状态-它们是有序的流体。 虽然有许多液晶材料的例子，但分子结构与形成液晶相的能力之间的关系还没有很好地理解。 通过制备具有系统结构变化的新型盘状液晶化合物，我们的目标是更好地理解控制液晶行为的因素。 诸如这些的材料可以表现出半导体或光导性质，这使得它们在诸如光伏太阳能电池、用于显示器的发光二极管（LED）和用于有机电子器件的薄膜晶体管的器件中潜在地有用。研究计划的第二个领域是使用芳香族化合物作为制备大环（大环）或扩展开放网络的构建块。 预计这两种类型的材料都具有小的通道和孔，并且可以潜在地用于基于尺寸帮助分离化合物或捕获小分子。

The properties of materials depend not only on the nature of the constituent molecules, but also on the way that these molecules are organized and interact with each other. Therefore, the design of new materials with specific desired properties requires control of both molecular structure and the self-assembly of these molecules. Through synthetic chemistry, we can prepare new molecules and control molecular properties by making specific structural modifications. We can also control the organization of these molecules by incorporating units that direct molecular self-assembly. The proposed research focuses on the design and synthesis of new materials by making rigid molecular building blocks based on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that will assemble themselves in predictable ways, ultimately allowing us to control the properties of the material.***The research will focus on two areas. The first goal of the research is to make new polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with several flexible chains. These flat, disk-shaped molecules have a tendency to stack into columns and form liquid crystalline phases. These liquid crystalline phases are states of matter that are intermediate between a solid and a liquid - they are ordered fluids. Although there are numerous examples of liquid crystalline materials, the relationship between molecular structure and the ability to form a liquid crystalline phase is not well understood. By preparing new disk-shaped liquid crystalline compounds with systematic structural variations, we aim to better understand the factors that control liquid crystalline behavior. Materials such as these can exhibit semiconducting or photoconducting properties that make them potentially useful in devices such as photovoltaic solar cells, light emitting diodes (LEDs) for displays, and thin film transistors for organic electronics. The second area of the research program is to use aromatic compounds as building blocks for the preparation of macrocycles (large rings) or extended open networks. Both of these types of materials are expected to have small channels and pores and can potentially be used to aid in the separation of compounds based on size or to capture small molecules.