Assembling Shape-Persistent High-Order Sierpiński Triangular Fractals

Zhilong Jiang; Die Liu; Mingzhao Chen; Jun Wang; He Zhao; Yiming Li; Zhe Zhang; Tingzheng Xie; Feng Wang; Xiaopeng Li; George R. Newkome; Pingshan Wang

iScience (May 2020)

Assembling Shape-Persistent High-Order Sierpiński Triangular Fractals

Zhilong Jiang,
Die Liu,
Mingzhao Chen,
Jun Wang,
He Zhao,
Yiming Li,
Zhe Zhang,
Tingzheng Xie,
Feng Wang,
Xiaopeng Li,
George R. Newkome,
Pingshan Wang

Affiliations

Zhilong Jiang: Institute of Environmental Research at Greater Bay Area; Key Laboratory for Water Quality and Conservation of the Pearl River Delta, Ministry of Education; Guangzhou Key Laboratory for Clean Energy and Materials, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou-510006, China
Die Liu: Institute of Environmental Research at Greater Bay Area; Key Laboratory for Water Quality and Conservation of the Pearl River Delta, Ministry of Education; Guangzhou Key Laboratory for Clean Energy and Materials, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou-510006, China
Mingzhao Chen: Institute of Environmental Research at Greater Bay Area; Key Laboratory for Water Quality and Conservation of the Pearl River Delta, Ministry of Education; Guangzhou Key Laboratory for Clean Energy and Materials, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou-510006, China; Corresponding author
Jun Wang: Hunan Key Laboratory of Micro & Nano Materials Interface Science; College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan-410083, China
He Zhao: Hunan Key Laboratory of Micro & Nano Materials Interface Science; College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan-410083, China
Yiming Li: Department of Chemistry, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620, USA
Zhe Zhang: Institute of Environmental Research at Greater Bay Area; Key Laboratory for Water Quality and Conservation of the Pearl River Delta, Ministry of Education; Guangzhou Key Laboratory for Clean Energy and Materials, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou-510006, China
Tingzheng Xie: Institute of Environmental Research at Greater Bay Area; Key Laboratory for Water Quality and Conservation of the Pearl River Delta, Ministry of Education; Guangzhou Key Laboratory for Clean Energy and Materials, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou-510006, China
Feng Wang: Hunan Key Laboratory of Micro & Nano Materials Interface Science; College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan-410083, China
Xiaopeng Li: Department of Chemistry, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620, USA
George R. Newkome: Center for Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Florida Atlantic University, Jupiter, FL 33428, USA; Corresponding author
Pingshan Wang: Institute of Environmental Research at Greater Bay Area; Key Laboratory for Water Quality and Conservation of the Pearl River Delta, Ministry of Education; Guangzhou Key Laboratory for Clean Energy and Materials, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou-510006, China; Hunan Key Laboratory of Micro & Nano Materials Interface Science; College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan-410083, China; Corresponding author

Journal volume & issue: Vol. 23, no. 5

Abstract

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Summary: Fractals are a series of intricate patterns with aesthetic, mathematic, and philosophic significance. The Sierpiński triangles have been known for more than one hundred years, but only recently discrete shape-persistent low-generation (mainly ST-1) fractal supramolecules have been realized. Herein, we report a retro-assembly pathway to the nanometer-scale, supra-macromolecular second-generation Sierpiński triangle and its third-generation saturated counterpart (Pascal's triangle). These gigantic triangular assemblies are unambiguously confirmed by NMR, DOSY, ESI-MS, TWIM-MS, TEM, and AFM analyses. Notably, the dense-packed counterions of these discrete triangular architectures could further form supramolecular hydro-gels in water. This work not only provides a fundamental chemical pathway to explore various giant supramolecular constructs and further overcome the synthetic limitation of complicated molecular fractals, but also presents a new type of supramolecular hydro-gels with potential in controlled release applications.

Published in iScience

ISSN: 2589-0042 (Online)
Publisher: Elsevier
Country of publisher: United States
LCC subjects: Science
Website: http://www.cell.com/iscience/home

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