| There is a growing interest in the synthesis of functional materials by supramolecular assembly. Special attentions are recently attracted to understand the assembly mechanism, the incorporation of desired functionalities, and the applications. This research is to study three functional assembly systems, i.e. bridged silsesquioxanes, organic hybrid materials, and polymer aggregates.;By incorporating functional organic moieties into ordered silica network, self-assembly of bridged silsesquioxanes ((RO)3Si-R' -Si(OR)3) proves efficient to produce advanced organic/inorganic materials. The present research introduces four functional organic components, i.e. polydiacetylene (PDA), oligothiophene, perylenediimide and porphyrin, into the silica framework, and the resultant assemblies show interesting structures and great applications as optoelectronic devices and sensors. Particularly, this thesis demonstrates the first example to synthesize responsive mesoporous PDA systems, the first example to fabricate oligomer thin films through a simple sol-gel process, the first mechanism study on the molecular assembly at multi-length scales, and the first assembly system of macroscopically helical fibers with chiral micropores, mesopores and macropores.;PDA systems have been known to switch their color between blue and red when exposed to temperature, inorganic ions, organic solvents, pH and salt changes or mechanical stress, which endow them with potential applications as sensor materials. This thesis reports the first example to synthesize PDA nanocomposites that switch their colors under UV irradiation at room temperature, induced by the unique configuration change of incorporated azobenzene derivatives.;Environment-responsive polymer aggregates have attracted increasing attentions in recent years because of their potential applications in numerous fields, e.g. drug delivery vehicles. This thesis focuses on self-assembly of homopolymer with small organic molecules (such as poly (4-vinylpyridine), or poly (allylamine), with diacetylenic acids) or two homopolymers (sulfonated poly (ether ether ketones), and PAA) in common solvents, resulting in the formation of microsized hollow spheres or nanoparticles, respectively. Both of them indicate potential applications as controlled and targeted delivery vehicles. |
