Xu Wenheng, Xu Zhanwen, Cai Chunhua, Lin Jiaping, Gao Liang, Qi Huimin, Lin Shaoliang
Shanghai Key Laboratory of Advanced Polymeric Materials, Key Laboratory for Ultrafine Materials of Ministry of Education, Frontiers Science Center for Materiobiology and Dynamic Chemistry, School of Materials Science and Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, China.
Nanoscale. 2021 Sep 7;13(33):14016-14022. doi: 10.1039/d1nr02674g. Epub 2021 Aug 16.
Spiral nanostructures, mainly in the 2D form, have been observed in polymer self-assembly, while well-defined 3D spirals are rarely reported. Here we report that a binary system containing polypeptide-based block copolymers and homopolymers can self-assemble into well-defined spiral spheres (3D spirals), in which the homopolymers form the core and the copolymers form the spirals. Upon increasing the preparation temperature, meridian spheres were obtained. Mixing polypeptide block copolymers with opposite backbone chirality also leads to the formation of meridian spheres. In the meridian patterns, a tighter packing manner of the phenyl groups appended to the polypeptide blocks was observed, which is responsible for the spiral-to-meridian transitions. This work enriches the research of spiral assemblies and provides a facile route to switch chiral/achiral nanostructures by regulating the packing manner of the pendant groups.
人们在聚合物自组装过程中观察到了主要呈二维形式的螺旋纳米结构，而明确的三维螺旋结构鲜有报道。在此，我们报告一种包含基于多肽的嵌段共聚物和均聚物的二元体系能够自组装成明确的螺旋球体（三维螺旋结构），其中均聚物形成核心，共聚物形成螺旋结构。随着制备温度升高，可得到子午线球体。将具有相反主链手性的多肽嵌段共聚物混合也会导致子午线球体的形成。在子午线图案中，观察到连接在多肽嵌段上的苯基有更紧密的堆积方式，这导致了从螺旋结构到子午线结构的转变。这项工作丰富了螺旋组装的研究，并提供了一条通过调节侧基的堆积方式来切换手性/非手性纳米结构的简便途径。
