Hiroyasu Masunaga

Amphiphilic Molecular Design as a Rational Strategy for Tailoring Bicontinuous Electron Donor and Acceptor Arrays: Photoconductive Liquid Crystalline Oligothiophene−C60 Dyads

For tailoring solution-processable optoelectronic thin films, a rational strategy with amphiphilic molecular design is proposed. A donor-acceptor dyad consisting of an oligothiophene and C60, when modified with a hydrophilic wedge on one side and a paraffinic wedge on the other (1Amphi), forms over a wide temperature range a photoconducting smectic A liquid crystal having bicontinuous arrays of densely packed donor and acceptor units. In contrast, when modified with only paraffinic wedges (1Lipo), the dyad forms a smectic A liquid crystalline mesophase, which however is poorly conductive. As indicated by an absorption spectral feature along with a synchrotron radiation small-angle X-ray scattering profile, 1Lipo in the lamellar structure does not adopt a uniform head/tail orientation. Such defective donor and acceptor arrays likely contain a large number of trapping sites, leading to short-lived charge carriers, as observed by a flash photolysis time-resolved microwave conductivity study.

Oriented Salts: Dimension‐Controlled Charge‐by‐Charge Assemblies from Planar Receptor–Anion Complexes

Salts, ionic compounds comprising cations (positive ions) and anions (negative ions), are essential materials for biotic activities. They are also utilized as inorganic minerals for industry. The appropriate arrangement of charged species through electrostatic interactions is a significant issue for constructing ordered nanoscale architectures in various states. For example, most inorganic, organic, and inorganic–organic hybrid salts use electrostatic interactions between ions to form organized three-dimensional (3D) crystal structures. The 3D structures defined herein include not only crystals of isomeric space groups in a cubic system but also non-isomeric crystals. Appropriate pairs of cations and anions yield ionic liquids, which are partially ordered but essentially nondimensional (0D) states. In ionic liquids, bulky geometries of both the cationic and the anionic species effectively prevent crystallization owing to significantly weaker ionic interactions. In contrast to crystals and liquids from ions, soft materials formed by electrostatic interactions between charged components have been reported as liquid crystals on the basis of ionic mesogens. 4] For example, Kato et al. reported various ionic liquid crystals comprising alkyl-substituted imidazolium salts, which afford columnar structures and have ionic conduction. Compared to such ionic mesophases, in which the locations of either cations or anions cannot be confirmed, more rigidly organized structures with a certain level of mobility in their building subunits are also useful for various applications such as ferroelectric materials. In contrast to bulky components, planar cationic and anionic molecules effectively interact with each other and form charge-by-charge assemblies composed of alternately stacking charged components. Aided by supplementary van der Waals interactions along with electrostatic and p–p interactions, dimension-controlled charge-by-charge assemblies will form not only crystals but also soft materials such as supramolecular gels, liquid crystals, and other organized structures. In comparison to p-conjugated cations, which are often based on sp-hybridized planar geometries, p-conjugated planar anionic species are required to delocalize their excess electrons, for example by depositing them in aromatic systems, to prevent them from suffering an electrophilic attack. Focusing on these perspectives, one of the strategies for forming planar anions is the complexation of electronically neutral p-conjugated anion receptors and spherical halide anions. As p-conjugated planes for associating with halide anions, BF2 complexes of 1,3-dipyrrolyl-1,3-propanediones efficiently bind spherical anions with inversion of pyrrole rings (1 and 2 ; Scheme 1 a). 8] Receptor 1 affords single crystals, which are composed of 1D columnar structures of alternately stacking chloride and bromide complexes and tetrapropylammonium (TPA) countercations, and are prepared from a hydrocarbon solvent. In contrast to these crystal states, an alkyl-substituted receptor 2 exhibits the formation of anion-responsive supramolecular octane gel, which is temporally transformed into a solution state by the addition of tetrabutylammonium (TBA) salts owing to the formation of soluble ion pairs comprising fairly aliphatic TBA cations and receptor–anion complexes. 9] Therefore, the introduction of planar cations in place of bulky TBA cations may form fine-tuned supramolecular organized structures as soft materials using p–p stacking and electrostatic interactions along with van der Waals forces. Herein, we present the [*] Y. Haketa, Prof. Dr. H. Maeda College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Institute of Science and Engineering, Ritsumeikan University Kusatsu 525–8577 (Japan) Fax: (+ 81)77-561-2659 E-mail: maedahir@ph.ritsumei.ac.jp

Prominent Electron Transport Property Observed for Triply Fused Metalloporphyrin Dimer: Directed Columnar Liquid Crystalline Assembly by Amphiphilic Molecular Design

A triply fused copper porphyrin dimer, when site-specifically modified on its periphery with hydrophobic and hydrophilic wedges (1C12/TEG), self-assembles into a columnar liquid crystalline (LC) mesophase over a wide-temperature range from -17 to 99 degrees C but gives rise to an amorphous solid when modified with only hydrophobic (1C12/C12) or hydrophilic wedges (1TEG/TEG). A LC film of 1C12/TEG displays at 16 degrees C a top-class one-dimensional electron mobility (0.27 cm2/V x s), as evaluated from its maximum flash-photolysis time-resolved microwave conductivity.

Crystalline Graphdiyne Nanosheets Produced at a Gas/Liquid or Liquid/Liquid Interface

Synthetic two-dimensional polymers, or bottom-up nanosheets, are ultrathin polymeric frameworks with in-plane periodicity. They can be synthesized in a direct, bottom-up fashion using atomic, ionic, or molecular components. However, few are based on carbon-carbon bond formation, which means that there is a potential new field of investigation into these fundamentally important chemical bonds. Here, we describe the bottom-up synthesis of all-carbon, π-conjugated graphdiyne nanosheets. A liquid/liquid interfacial protocol involves layering a dichloromethane solution of hexaethynylbenzene on an aqueous layer containing a copper catalyst at room temperature. A multilayer graphdiyne (thickness, 24 nm; domain size, >25 μm) emerges through a successive alkyne-alkyne homocoupling reaction at the interface. A gas/liquid interfacial synthesis is more successful. Sprinkling a very small amount of hexaethynylbenzene in a mixture of dichloromethane and toluene onto the surface of the aqueous phase at room temperature generated single-crystalline graphdiyne nanosheets, which feature regular hexagonal domains, a lower degree of oxygenation, and uniform thickness (3.0 nm) and lateral size (1.5 μm).

The role of the helper lipid dioleoylphosphatidylethanolamine (DOPE) for DNA transfection cooperating with a cationic lipid bearing ethylenediamine.

Gene therapy is expected to treat various incurable diseases including viral infections, autoimmune disorders, and cancers. Cationic lipids (CL) have been used as carriers of therapeutic DNAs for gene therapy because they can form a complex with DNA and such a complex can be incorporated into cells and transport the bound DNA to cytosol. The CL/DNA complexes are called lipoplexes and categorized as a non-viral vector. Lipoplexes are often prepared by adding a neutral phospholipid dioleoylphosphatidylethanolamine (DOPE) to CL in order to enhance transfection. However, the role of DOPE is not fully understood. We synthesized a new CL having an ethylenediamine cationic head group, denoted by DA, and found that addition of DOPE to DA achieved a good efficiency, almost in the similar level of commonly used transfection reagent Lipofectamine 2000 (Invitrogen). The composition of DA:DOPE=1:1 showed the highest efficiency. This lipoplex showed structural transition when pH was changed from 7 to 4, corresponding pH lowering in late endosome, while DOPE itself showed structural transition at more basic pH around 8. The present data showed that the DOPE/DA composition determines the structural transition pH and choosing a suitable pH, i.e., a suitable composition, is essential to increase the transfection efficiency.

Encapsulation of a Hydrophobic Drug into a Polymer-Micelle Core Explored with Synchrotron SAXS

Synchrotron small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) at the SPring-8 40B2 and 45XU beamlines was carried out on aqueous solutions of (PEG-P(Asp(Bzl))): partially benzyl-esterified poly(ethylene glycol)-block-poly(aspartic acid) with LE540 loaded up to 8.3 wt %, where LE540 is a very hydrophobic retinoid antagonist drug. The scattering profiles showed characteristic features for core-shell spherical micelles, confirming that P(Asp(Bzl)) forms a hydrophobic core and PEG forms a hydrophilic shell. Before the addition of LE540, a diffraction peak was observed around q = 4 nm(-1), where q is the magnitude of the scattering vector. This peak can be attributed to ordering between alpha-helices made of P(Asp(Bzl)), the so-called nonspecific hexatic arrangement. The P(Asp(Bzl)) helices disappeared as LE540 was added. This result can be interpreted by assuming a uniform distribution of LE540 in the core. By use of a core-shell spherical micelle model, the SAXS data could be well fitted for all of the samples. The analysis indicated that the core radius increases sigmoidally from 5.9 to 6.9 nm upon addition of LE540 whereas the shell radius stayed at 12.5-12.8 nm. The aggregation number that is the average number of PEG-P(Asp(Bzl))s consisting of one micelle slightly increased from 145 to 182.

Relationship between morphological change and crystalline phase transitions of polyethylene-poly(ethylene oxide) diblock copolymers, revealed by the temperature-dependent synchrotron WAXD/SAXS and infrared/Raman spectral measurements.

The phase transition behaviors of low-molecular-weight polyethylene-poly(ethylene oxide) (PE-b-PEO) diblock copolymers with the monomeric units of PE/PEO = 17/40 and 39/86 have been successfully investigated through the temperature-dependent measurements of wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), infrared and Raman spectra, as well as thermal analysis. These diblock copolymers had been believed to show only order-to-disorder transition of lamellar morphology in a wide temperature region, but it has been found here for the first time that this copolymer clearly exhibits the three stages of transitions among lamella, gyroid, cylinder, and spherical phases in the heating and cooling processes. The WAXD and IR/Raman spectral measurements allowed us to relate these morphological changes to the microscopic changes in the aggregation states of PEO and PE segments. In the low-temperature region the PEO segments form the monoclinic crystal of (7/2) helical chain conformation and the PE segments of planar-zigzag form take the orthorhombic crystalline phase. These crystalline lamellae of PEO and PE segments are alternately stacked with the long period of 165 Angstroms. In a higher temperature region, where the PEO crystalline parts are on the way of melting but the PE parts are still in the orthorhombic phase, the gyroid morphology is detected in the SAXS data. By heating further, the gyroid morphology changes to the hexagonally packed cylindrical morphology, where the orthorhombic phase of PE segments is gradually disordered because of thermally activated molecular motion and finally transforms to the pseudohexagonal or rotator phase. Once the PE segments are perfectly melted, the higher-order structure changes from the cylinder to the spherical morphology. These morphological transitions might relate to the thermally activated motions of two short chain segments of the diblock copolymer, although the details of the transition mechanism are unclear at the present stage.

Relationships between physical properties and sequence in silkworm silks.

Silk has attracted widespread attention due to its superlative material properties and promising applications. However, the determinants behind the variations in material properties among different types of silk are not well understood. We analysed the physical properties of silk samples from a variety of silkmoth cocoons, including domesticated Bombyx mori varieties and several species from Saturniidae. Tensile deformation tests, thermal analyses, and investigations on crystalline structure and orientation of the fibres were performed. The results showed that saturniid silks produce more highly-defined structural transitions compared to B. mori, as seen in the yielding and strain hardening events during tensile deformation and in the changes observed during thermal analyses. These observations were analysed in terms of the constituent fibroin sequences, which in B. mori are predicted to produce heterogeneous structures, whereas the strictly modular repeats of the saturniid sequences are hypothesized to produce structures that respond in a concerted manner. Within saturniid fibroins, thermal stability was found to correlate with the abundance of poly-alanine residues, whereas differences in fibre extensibility can be related to varying ratios of GGX motifs versus bulky hydrophobic residues in the amorphous phase.

Room-temperature nanoimprint lithography for crystalline poly(fluoroalkyl acrylate) thin films

A mold with a line pattern was imprinted onto a thin film of poly{2-(perfluorooctyl)ethyl acrylate} with long crystalline fluoroalkyl groups (PFA-C8), and the nanoimprinting characteristics of PFA-C8 thin films were investigated. It was revealed that nanostructures could be imprinted on PFA-C8 at room temperature because of the weak interaction among the fluoroalkyl groups in crystallites. The nanotextured PFA-C8 film with a line pattern exhibited anisotropic wetting behavior. The anisotropic wetting behavior was attributed to the difference between the energy barriers of wetting in the direction parallel and orthogonal to the lines. Fabricated nanostructures were stable for annealing below its melting point and were stable at room temperature (RT) for several months.

Influence of Water Content on the β-Sheet Formation, Thermal Stability, Water Removal, and Mechanical Properties of Silk Materials

Silk, which has excellent mechanical toughness and is lightweight, is used as a structural material in nature, for example, in silkworm cocoons and spider draglines. However, the industrial use of silk as a structural material has garnered little attention. For silk to be used as a structural material, its thermal processability and associated properties must be well understood. Although water molecules influence the glass transition of silk, the effects of water content on the other thermal properties of silks are not well understood. In this study, we prepared Bombyx mori cocoon raw fibers, degummed fibers, and films with different water contents and then investigated the effects of water content on crystallization, degradation, and water removal during thermal processing. Thermal gravimetric analyses of the silk materials showed that water content did not affect the thermal degradation temperature but did influence the water removal behavior. By increasing the water content of silk, the water molecules were removed at lower temperatures, indicating that the amount of free water in silk materials increased; additionally, the glass transition temperature decreased with increasing water plasticization. Differential scanning calorimetry and wide-angle X-ray scattering of the silk films also suggested that the water molecules in the amorphous regions of the silk films acted as a plasticizer and induced β-sheet crystallization. The plasticizing effect of water was not detected in silk fibers, owing to their lower amorphous content and mobility. The structural and mechanical characterizations of the silk films demonstrated the silk film prepared at RH 97% realized both crystallinity and ductility simultaneously. Thus, the thermal stability, mechanical, and other properties of silk materials are regulated by their water content and crystallinity.