Hooking Together Sigmoidal Monomers into Supramolecular Polymers

Supramolecular polymers have a lot of potential in the development of new materials because of their inherent recyclability and their self-healing and stimuli-responsive properties. Supramolecular conductive polymers are generally obtained by the assembly of individual disk-like π-conjugated molecules into columnar arrays that provide an optimal channel for electronic transport. We report a new approach to prepare supramolecular polymers by hooking together sigmoidal monomers into 1D arrays of π-stacked anthracene and acridine units, which give rise to micrometer-sized fibrils that show pseudoconductivities in line with other conducting materials. This approach paves the way for the design of new supramolecular polymers constituted by acene derivatives with enhanced excitonic and electronic transporting properties.