Self-organization of bolaamphiphile bearing biphenyl mesogen and aspartic-acid headgroups

A novel bolaamphiphile (DCBP-10-L-Asp) that bears the biocompatible aspartic acid as hydrophilic heads has been designed and synthesized. It is found that DCBP-10-L-Asp can self-organize into supramolecular fiber-like structures in aqueus solution. These fiber-like structures have a good thermal stability that can bear a temperature as high as 110 degrees C, because of the collective interaction, including hydrogen bonding, pi-pi interaction, and van der Waals interaction. The hydrogen bonding is indispensable to the formation of the supramolecular fiber-like structures, which is confirmed by adding urea or Cu2+ ion into the solution or by changing the pH of the solution to break the hydrogen bonding. It is anticipated that this line of research may provide a way to fabricate biocompatible nanomaterials.