Helicity-and Molecular-Weight-Driven Self-Sorting And Assembly Of Helical Polymers Towards Two-Dimensional Smectic Architectures And Selectively Adhesive Gels

Biological macromolecules with spiral structure play an indispensable role in life systems.For example,the helix of DNA and protein plays an important role in recognition,catalysis,replication,and genetic processes.Self-sorting is a process of self-recognition,a process of birds of a feather flock together.Self-sorting plays an important role in living systems,but there are relatively few studies on the self-sorting phenomenon of artificially synthesized spiral polymers.To mimic the self-sorting process in living system,single-handed helical poly(phenyl isocyanide)s bearing pyrene(Py)and naphthalene(Np)-probes were prepared.These polymers exhibited interesting self-sorting properties driven by both helicity and molecular weight(M_n)in solution,solid state,gel and on gel surface as well.The polymers with the same helix-sense and similar M_n can self-sorted and assembly into well-defined two-dimensional semectic architectures and form stable gels in common organic solvents.While mixed polymers with opposite handedness or in different M_n were repulsive to each other and couldn’t aggregate.Moreover,the gels of helical polymers with the same handedness and similar M_n can recognize themselves and adhere together.Whereas similar self-sorting and healing properties could not occurred on gels with opposite helix-sense or in different M_n.The present work not only achieve a breakthrough in self-recognition on complex macromolecular level,but also bring out an innovative stereoselective self-assembly strategy for fabricating dynamic supramolecular architectures applicable to various research fields such as self-recognition,chiral auto-resolution,liquid crystallization,self-healing materials and so on.