Chemical energy assisted self-assembling of a porphyrin-substituted benzoic acid in complex environments.

Energy input plays a crucial role in the assembling of matter. In our present study, we utilize EDC as a chemical fuel to drive the molecular assembling of POR-COOH. POR-COOH will react with EDC to generate the intermediate POR-COOEDC first, which was well-solvated by solvent molecules. During the subsequent hydrolysis process, EDU and oversaturated POR-COOH molecules at high energy states will be formed and thus allowed the self-assembling of POR-COOH into 2D nanosheets. This chemical energy assisted assembling process could be performed not only under mild conditions with high spatial accuracy but also with high selectivity in complex environments.