Issue 24, 2019

Symmetrically backfolded molecules emulating the self-similar features of a Sierpinski triangle

Abstract

We synthesized self-similar molecules (G3 and G2; based on phenylalkynyl backbones) with symmetrically backfolded shapes inspired by the famous fractal of a Sierpinski triangle. Unlike the more traditional, starburst dendrimers, the centripetal-shaped Sierpinski molecules feature side branches symmetrically bent away from the growth direction of the main branch, thus contrasting the natural-tree shape. Molecule G3 exhibits three distinct levels of the structural hierarchy comprising the primary, secondary and tertiary branches, while the smaller G2 contains only features of the 1st and 2nd orders. In spite of the much larger conjugated backbone of G3, its solution UV-vis absorption and fluorescence exhibit no red shift relative to G2. In a test of nitrobenzene sensing, a thin film of G3 deposited from THF was more sensitively quenched in fluorescence than the smaller G2.

Graphical abstract: Symmetrically backfolded molecules emulating the self-similar features of a Sierpinski triangle

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
26 Apr 2019
Accepted
28 May 2019
First published
30 May 2019

Org. Biomol. Chem., 2019,17, 6032-6037

Author version available

Symmetrically backfolded molecules emulating the self-similar features of a Sierpinski triangle

J. Hu, Y. Sun, R. Xiao, S. Cheng, J. He, M. Zeller, W. Wong and Z. Xu, Org. Biomol. Chem., 2019, 17, 6032 DOI: 10.1039/C9OB00958B

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements