Pulsating tubules from noncovalent macrocycles

Abstract

Despite recent advances in synthetic nanometer-scale tubular assembly, conferral of dynamic response characteristics to the tubules remains a challenge. Here, we report on supramolecular nanotubules that undergo a reversible contraction-expansion motion accompanied by an inversion of helical chirality. Bent-shaped aromatic amphiphiles self-assemble into hexameric macrocycles in aqueous solution, forming chiral tubules by spontaneous one-dimensional stacking with a mutual rotation in the same direction. The adjacent aromatic segments within the hexameric macrocycles reversibly slide along one another in response to external triggers, resulting in pulsating motions of the tubules accompanied by a chiral inversion. The aromatic interior of the self-assembled tubules encapsulates hydrophobic guests such as carbon-60 (C(60)). Using a thermal trigger, we could regulate the C(60)-C(60) interactions through the pulsating motion of the tubules.