Prof. Dr. Edvinas Orentas, Vilnius University, Lithuania

Exploitation of The Hydrogen Bond: Dynamic Tubular Supramolecular Systems

The examples of the iconic DNA double helix and protein tertiary structures highlight the importance of hydrogen bonds (H-bonds) for structure, function and stability of the fundamental units of biosystems and serve as an inspiration for chemist in designing artificial non-covalent constructs. Indeed, among various non-covalent interactions used in supramolecular chemistry, the H-bond is perhaps the most versatile one due to its strength and directionality. Based on reversible nature of H-bonds, the design and synthesis of new stimuli-responsive H-bonding monomers that display a diversity of self-assembly pathways and structural features became possible by clever use of rigid molecular scaffolds and tautomeric equilibrium. In this seminar, several unique methods to obtain new types of dynamic supramolecular tubular aggregates and polymers, assembled from very small and thus easily modifiable chiral H-bonding bicyclic building blocks will be discussed.