Participating Group (2020-2021)

Stimuli Responsiveness and Mechanical Properties of Soft-Crystal-Like Supramolecular Assemblies

Research Outline

Development of supramolecular chemistry has improved the understanding of the principle of molecular self-assembly. In the broad sense, molecular self-assembly can be considered as crystallization. In fact, some of molecular self-assemblies have proven to involve nucleation process in its propagation, like crystallization. In addition, metastable states and polymorphisms have attracted increasing amount of attention in this research filed, which made us wonder whether these systems are related to the concept of “soft crystal”.

In this study, as a motif of soft crystal we investigate supramolecular assemblies which we have recently discovered: (1) supramolecular assemblies which respond to mechanical and chemical stimuli, and (2) supramolecular assemblies which lack translational symmetry. Based on the energy landscape that can be depicted based on thermodynamic and kinetic stabilities, we unveil the dynamics of transformation of supramolecular assemblies at the molecular level.

Publications