Congratulations to Shao Yu, Yin Hang and Jin Peng-Fei!

Regio-isomeric Tandem Triblock Shape Amphiphiles Based on Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxanes

DOI: 10.1002/chem.201800895

Yu Shao, Hang Yin, Peng-Fei Jin, Yu-Sheng Jiang, Shuguang Yang, and Wen-Bin Zhang*

We report the design, synthesis and self-assembly of a series of tandem triblock shape amphiphile regio-isomers composed of one rod-like fluorinated-POSS (FPOSS) cage tethered with two spherical tert-butyl-POSS (tBPOSS) cages in para-, meta-, and ortho-configurations. Precision syntheses are achieved via sequential “click” reactions and the compounds are thoroughly characterized by combined techniques of NMR, FT-IR and MALDI-TOF MS spectroscopy. Only the ortho-isomer forms an ordered lamellae structure induced by the crystallization of perfluoroalkyl-chains and the other two remain amorphous due to frustrated packing by unfavorable regio-configuration. The distinct assembly behaviors of these three regio-isomers reflect the delicate influence of minute structural difference on precision macromolecular assembly.

The work is done by Zhang Wen-Bin group and Yang Shu-Guang group, PhD. Candidate Shao Yu is the first author. Prof. Zhang Wen-Bin is the corresponding author. We are grateful for the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos 21674003, 91427304) and 1000 Plan (Youth). We thank the Beamline 16B1 at the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility and Beamline 1W2A at the Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility for the assistance with the SAXS and WAXD experiments.