Nanoscale Supramolecular Chemistry: Self-assembly phenomena on the nanometer length scale

Nanoscale Supramolecular Chemistry explores the interface between self-assembly processes of individual molecules and inorganic nanomaterials. In Nature, molecular self-assembly regulates nearly every aspect of molecular life, from how proteins take their shapes to enzymatic mechanisms that power life itself. Described by Jean-Marie Lehn as ¿Chemistry beyond the Bond¿, supramolecular recognition phenomena are based on non-covalent bonding interactions such as hydrogen bonds and electrostatic interactions. With recent developments of synthetically accessible nanomaterials such as monolayer coated gold nanoparticles, it is now possible to examine supramolecular chemistry in the nanodimension. This work reports on some of the early discoveries in the field of nanoscale supramolecular chemistry, including how radial variations in monolayer packing densities of molecules assembled on nanoparticles effect supramolecular processes and how supramolecular chemistry can be used to drive the formation of nanoparticle assemblies with controllable architectures.