Interfacial assembly and host-guest interaction of anthracene-conjugated L-glutamate dendron with cyclodextrin at the air/water interface

The interfacial assembly of photo-induced dimerization of atypical anthracene-containing amphiphilic dendron and host-guest interaction with gamma-cyclodextrin has been investigated. It has been proved that even without long alkyl chain the amphiphilic dendron could still form stable Langmuir monolayer at the air/water interface. Through the host-guest interaction, gamma-cyclodextrin can be used to encapsulate two headgroups of amphiphilic dendron in the antiparallel direction. However, the formed host-guest complex was sensitive to the surface pressure. Slight compression of surface pressure led amphiphilic dendron to reassemble into nanofibers through the strong pi-pi stacking between headgroups. On the other hand, under in situ irradiation, the amphiphilic dendron was stabilized in the cavity of gamma-cyclodextrin through headgroup dimerization and the host-guest complex further irregularly aggregated to nanoparticles. Meanwhile, gamma-cyclodextrin, as a silencer, blocked the supramolecular chirality transfer. Our conclusion was demonstrated through UV/vis, FT-IR, CD spectrum and AFM images, respectively. (C) 2013 Ming-Hua Liu. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Chinese Chemical Society. All rights reserved.