Bio-inspired, programmable supramolecular polymerization

Abstract

Natural systems are highly competent in employing intricate transformations which potentially undergo self-assembly in a kinetically controlled and out-of-equilibrium manner. This delivers methods of controlling their intricate chemical organizations in spatio-temporal manner giving rise to autonomous smart functions. Though synthetic systems undergo thermodynamically driven supramolecular polymerization which is much simpler, there is no modulation of organization over space or time. The necessity towards defined control over structure and function of supramolecular polymers has recently aroused interest in programming the supramolecular polymerization process. Inspired by the outstanding control that Nature establishes, a drive towards artificial out-of-equilibrium systems with the aim of programming structural transformations via a fuel driven approach appears to be the solution. In this Chapter, we survey the current literature where we start from a concise outlook about general methods to self-assemble chromophores and then advance to examine the existing methods for achieving control over supramolecular polymerization over space and time. Although, there have been substantial progress, this field is still under infancy due to the absence of generalized strategies. We lay the foundation for the future discussions in succeeding chapters where we investigate the fuel driven approaches to create programmable supramolecular polymers.