Solution scattering studies of the hierarchical assembly of porphyrin trimers based on benzene triscarboxamide.

The self-assembly of achiral and chiral porphyrin trimers based on benzene triscarboxamide in solution is studied with the help of NMR, FT-IR, UV-vis, and CD spectroscopy. These studies revealed that in apolar solvents the porphyrin trimers self-assembled in columnar stacks via a combination of hydrogen bonding and π-π stacking interactions. While the critical aggregation constant is about 0.

Photocatalytic oxidation of stilbene by self-assembled stacks of manganese porphyrins.

Self-assembled stacks of trimeric manganese porphyrins exhibit high activity in the photocatalytic epoxidation of stilbene using O2 as the oxidant. The supramolecular structure of the catalyst leads to increased stability of the system and enhances the stereoselectivity of the reaction.

Solvent-dependent amplification of chirality in assemblies of porphyrin trimers based on benzene tricarboxamide.

Self-assembling achiral and chiral porphyrin trimers based on benzene tricarboxamide exhibit amplification of chirality only in solvents in which the assemblies are dynamic enough to rearrange their constituting components.

Real-time single-molecule imaging of oxidation catalysis at a liquid-solid interface.

Many chemical reactions are catalysed by metal complexes, and insight into their mechanisms is essential for the design of future catalysts. A variety of conventional spectroscopic techniques are available for the study of reaction mechanisms at the ensemble level, and, only recently, fluorescence microscopy techniques have been applied to monitor single chemical reactions carried out on crystal faces and by enzymes. With scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) it has become possible to obtain, during chemical reactions, spatial information at the atomic level.

Supramolecular porphyrin polymers in solution and at the solid-liquid interface.

We have investigated in detail the self-assembly of a chiral porphyrin trimer in different solvents and correlated this behavior to the aggregation of the molecule at a solid-liquid interface. In n-hexane and cyclohexane, CD spectroscopy and dynamic and static light scattering studies showed that the porphyrin trimer self-assembles already at micromolar concentrations into long, chiral supramolecular polymers, which precipitate as fibers when the solution is drop-cast onto a mica surface. In contrast, in chloroform, the compound is molecularly dissolved up to concentrations of 0.

Macroscopic hierarchical surface patterning of porphyrin trimers via self-assembly and dewetting.

The use of bottom-up approaches to construct patterned surfaces for technological applications is appealing, but to date is applicable to only relatively small areas (approximately 10 square micrometers). We constructed highly periodic patterns at macroscopic length scales, in the range of square millimeters, by combining self-assembly of disk-like porphyrin dyes with physical dewetting phenomena. The patterns consisted of equidistant 5-nanometer-wide lines spaced 0.