Resembling a bundle of cereal stalks, this atomic force microscopy (AFM) image depicts the first ionic organic nanocrystals to have a sheaf-like structure. Ursula Mazur, of Washington State University, US, and colleagues grew the π-conjugated molecules from two electroactive porphyrin synthons: tetra(4-aminophenyl)porphyrin and tetra(4-sulfonatophenyl)porphyrin. These building blocks assembled themselves into branched structures – the higher the reaction temperature the longer and more numerous their branches.
Read the full article in Chemistry World»
Read the original journal article in ChemComm:
Hyperbranched Crystalline Nanostructure Produced from Ionic π-Conjugated Molecules
Ursula Mazur , K W Hipps, Jeremy R. Eskelsen and Kara J Phillips Chem. Commun., 2014, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/C4CC09288K, Communication
