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The newly developed oligophenylenevinylene (OPV)-based fluorescent (FL) chiral chemosensor (OPV-Me) for the representative enantiomeric guest, 1,2-cyclohexanedicarboxylic acid (1,2-CHDA: RR- and SS-form) showed the high chiral discrimination ability, resulting in the different aggregation modes of OPV-Me self-assembly: RR-CHDA directed the fibrous supramolecular aggregate, whereas SS-CHDA directed the finite aggregate. The consequent FL intensity toward RR-CHDA was up to 30 times larger than that toward SS-CHDA. Accordingly, highly enantioselective recognition was achieved. Application to the chirality sensing was also possible: OPV-Me exhibited a linear relationship between the FL intensity and the enantiomeric excess through the morphological development of stereocomplex aggregates. These results clearly show that the chiral recognition ability is manifested by the amplification cascade of the chirality difference through self-assembly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The control over supramolecular interactions and obtaining information beyond the molecular scale is an extended challenge. The intriguing self-assembly of a perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic acid diimide (PDI)-based novel bolaamphiphilic probe is experienced within an artificial environment that is restrained by using supramolecular crystallization and molecular recognition. The bolaamphiphile with a hydrophilic [18]-azacrown ether ring produced nanoaggregates due to differing solubilities in organic and aqueous media. A structural evolution was observed in the presence of alkali metal ions as guests. The metal complexes form a pseudo-cationic structure, which is further involved in an ionic self-assembly with biomolecules, thus resulting new spectroscopic information on the dye self-assembly. The overarching aim of this study is to emphasize the importance of the concept of supramolecular adaptability, which has been used to establish an environment-friendly behavior based on noncovalent forces, thus leading to the evolution of new assembly structures and photophysical properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oligophenylenevinylene (OPV)-based fluorescent (FL) chemosensors exhibiting linear FL responses toward polyanions were designed. Their application to FL sensing of glycosaminoglycans (heparin: HEP, chondroitin 4-sulfate: ChS, and hyaluronic acid: HA) revealed that the charge density encoded as the unit structure directs the mode of OPV self-assembly: H-type aggregate for HEP with 16-times FL increase and J-type aggregate for HA with 93-times FL increase, thus unexpectedly achieving the preferential selectivity for HA in contrast to the conventional HEP selective systems. We have found that the integral magnitude of three factors consisting of binding mechanism, self-assembly, and FL response can amplify the structural information on the target input into the characteristic FL output. This emergent property has been used for a novel molecular recognition system that realizes unconventional FL sensing of HA, potentially applicable to the clinical diagnosis of cancer-related diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although self-assembly has realized the spontaneous formation of nanoarchitectures, the nanoscopic expression of chemical structural information at the molecular level can alternatively be regarded as a tool to translate molecular structural information with high precision. We have found that a newly developed guanidinium-tethered oligophenyle-nevinylene exhibits characteristic fluorescence (FL) responses toward l- and meso-tartarate, wherein the different self-assembly modes, termed J- or H-type aggregation, are directed according to the molecular information encoded as the chemical structure. This morphological difference originates from the geometric anti versus gauche conformational difference between l- and meso-tartarate. A similar morphological difference can be reproduced with the geometric C=C bond difference between fumarate and maleate. In the present system, the dicarboxylate structural information is embodied in the inherent threshold concentration of the FL response, the signal-to-noise ratio, and the maximum FL wavelength. These results indicate that self-assembly is meticulous enough to sense subtle differences in molecular information and thus demonstrate the potential ability of self-assembly for the expression of a FL sensory system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]