Disassembly of spherical structures into nanohelices by good solvent dilution

• DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.12.061
• Publication Date: 2023-12-10T23:59:53Z
• Authors: Fang Zhang; Zhaocun Shen; Kunyan Sui; Minghua Liu

Supramolecular self-assembly of low molecular weight molecules into various organic nanostructures has attracted considerable research interest. However, preparing organic nanostructures through a top-down method, such as the disassembly of one large structure into many smaller nanoscale nanostructures, still remains a big challenge. Here, we make use of anti-solvent method to regulate the hierarchical self-assembly of an achiral C3-symmetric molecule in THF/water to prepare various nanostructures, including spherical structures, nanofibers, nanoribbons and nanotwists. Interestingly, the spherical structures could disassemble into nanohelices through good solvent dilution, providing a nanoscale top-down method to prepare organic nanostructures.