Transient equilibrium mapping: A new tool for measuring the thermodynamics of slowly assembling supramolecular systems

Supramolecular chemistry involves the non-covalent assembly of monomers into materials with unique properties and wide-ranging applications. Thermal analysis is a key analytical tool in this field, as it provides quantitative thermodynamic information on both the structural stability and nature of the underlying molecular interactions. However there exist many supramolecular systems whose kinetics are so slow under conditions approaching equilibrium that thermodynamic data are inaccessible. We have developed a simple and rapid spectroscopic method for extracting thermodynamic parameters from these systems. It is based on repeatedly raising and lowering the temperature during assembly and identifying the points of transient equilibrium as they are passed on the up- and down-scans. In a proof-of-principle application to the co-assembly of polydeoxyadenosine containing 15 adenosines (polyA15) and cyanuric acid (CA), we found that roughly 30% of the CA binding sites on the polyA chains were unoccupied, with implications for the assembly of high-valence systems.