The ability to prepare materials in the 10 nm – 100 micron size regime with controlled shape, dimensions, tailored functionality, and structural hierarchy is still in its relative infancy and currently remains the virtually exclusive domain of biology. In this talk recent developments concerning a promising “seeded growth” route to well-defined 1D, 2D, and more complex hierarchical materials on these length-scales termed “living” crystallization-driven self-assembly (CDSA), will be described. Living CDSA can be regarded as a type of “living supramolecular polymerization” that is analogous to well-known “living” covalent (e.g. anion initiated) polymerizations of molecular monomers, but on a much longer length scale (typically, 20 nm – 5 microns). Living CDSA also shows analogies to biological “nucleation-elongation” processes such as amyloid fiber growth.
The building blocks or “monomers” used for living CDSA consist of a rapidly expanding range of crystallizable amphiphiles such as block copolymers, homopolymers with charged termini, or planar p-stacking molecules with a wide variety of chemistries. The seeds used as “initiators” for living CDSA are usually prepared from preformed polydisperse 1D or 2D assemblies by sonication.
This talk will focus on the creation of functional architectures via living CDSA with emphasis on applications in catalysis, optoelectronics, nanomedicine, and surface modification. Successful scale-up will be discussed