查看文章

We report the synthesis and self-assembly of a library of squaramide-based bolaamphiphiles with variable hydrophobic and hydrophilic domain sizes, consisting of varied aliphatic chains (n = 2 to 12 methylene repeat units) and linear oligo(ethylene glycol) (m = 11 to 36 repeat units), to understand their effect on the formation of supramolecular polymer nanoparticles. Systematic variation of the hydrophobic chain length show that a minimum hydrophobic domain is required to shield the squaramide units from water when a constant hydrophilic domain is maintained for self-assembly. By contrast, significant increases to the hydrophilic chain length of the bolaamphiphile, while keeping the hydrophobic domain constant, results in a transition from fibrillar to spherical nanoscale objects with an alteration in the aggregation mode of the monomers likely due to steric constraints of the oligo(ethylene glycol) chains. By …