Diarylbutadiyne derivatives are ideal monomers for providing the π-electron-conjugated system of polydiacetylenes (PDAs). The geometrical parameters for diacetylene topochemical polymerization are known. However, control of the molecules under these parameters is yet to be addressed. This work shows that by simply tailoring diarylbutadiyne with amide side-chain substituents, the arrangement of the substituents and the resulting hydrogen bond framework allows formation of π-electron-conjugated PDA.
To date, molecular assemblies under the contribution of hydrogen bond in combination with weak interactions and their consequent morphologies have been variously reported; however, how the systematic variation of the structure can fine-tune the morphologies has not yet been answered. The present work finds an answer through highly symmetric molecules, i.e. diamine-based benzoxazine dimers. This type of molecule develops unique molecular assemblies with their networks formed by hydrogen bonds at the terminal, while, at the same time, their hydrogen bonded frameworks are further controlled by the hydrophobic segment at the center of the molecule. When this happens, slight differences in hydrophobic alkyl chain lengths (, , and ) bring a significant change to the molecular assemblies, thus resulting in tunable morphologies, i.e. spheres, needles and dendrites. The superimposition between the crystal lattice obtained from X-ray single crystal analysis and the electron diffraction pattern obtained from transmission electron microscopy allows us to identify the molecular alignment from single molecules to self-assembly until the morphologies developed. The present work, for the first time, shows the case of symmetric molecules, where the hydrophobic building block controls the hydrogen bond patterns, leading to the variation of molecular assemblies with tunable morphologies.
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