Confined supramolecular polymers in water with exceptional stability, photoluminescence and chiroptical properties

Abstract

This communication reveals the synthesis of lipid-encased chiral supramolecular polymer nanorods (SPNRs) in water from a hydrophobic naphthalene-diimide derivative by the nanoprecipitation technique. The as-prepared SPNRs exhibit exceptional thermal stability (T_m > 90 °C), excellent photoluminescence (Φ > 0.5 compared to <0.01 of the monomeric dye) and circularly polarized luminescence with a very high chiral dissymmetry factor (g_lum) of ∼0.8 × 10⁻¹ which has rarely been reported for any supramolecular polymer.