Supramolecular nanofibers self-assembled from foldamers: Structure control through preassembly

We used a helical polymer backbone (polyacrylamide) as a scaffold to organize perylene diimide chromophores into well-defined foldamers, which further undergo self-assembly into supramolecular tube-like arrays in aqueous media, as revealed by cryo-TEM imaging. The arrays are supramolecular polymers, whose structure is templated by folded primary building blocks, representing a useful tool for directing self-assembly. Exciton migration in the supramolecular arrays was studied by transient absorption and revealed a moderate exciton diffusion propensity.