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Self-assembled supramolecular crystals fabricated by solvent-free mechanochemical treatments of a crystalline host and a rubbery polymer are stabilized by cooperative CHπ interactions as revealed by 1H fast-MAS and 2D solid state NMR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nanocomposite micro-objects of mesoporous silica with polymers have been obtained by inclusion polymerization of vinyl monomers (styrene and methylmethacrylate) viaa radical process. The intimacy between the silica scaffold and the grown polymer has been addressed by a multi-technique approach and the extended interface has been recognized. In particular, phase-modulated Lee–Goldburg 2D heterocorrelated NMR was exploited to study the heterogeneous interfaces and the micro-adhesion between the inorganic matrix and the organic phase. By the in-depth characterization, it was possible to achieve a model in which polymer nanofibrils interact with the walls of the nanochannels in the mesoporous silica, resulting in interdigitated nanophases. A material consisting of two distinct phases so intimately entangled can explain the success of a replication process in which the morphology of the original material is entirely transposed to a polymeric material that fully retains its shape. The obtained micrometric shapes as well as their nanometric structure were directly observed, respectively, by scanning and transmission electron microscopies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]