Programmed Hierarchical Hybrid Nanostructures from Fullerene-Dendrons and Pyrene-Dendrons

The construction of fullerene (C₆₀) hierarchical nanostructures with the help of amphiphilic molecules remains a challenging task in nanoscience and nanotechnology. Utilizing the host–guest complex concept, sub-10 nm layered superstructures are constructed from a monofunctionalized C₆₀ dendron (C₆₀D, guest) and tweezer-like pyrene dendron (PD, host). Since C₆₀D and PD are asymmetric shape amphiphiles having liquid crystal (LC) dendrons, both C₆₀D and PD construct head-to-head bilayer superstructures by themselves. From fluorescence titration experiments, it is realized that the host–guest complex shows 1:1 stoichiometric binding with a binding constant (K_sv = 2.45 × 10⁵m⁻¹). Based on the morphological observations and scattering analyses, it is found that buckle-like asymmetric building blocks (C₆₀D·PD) are self-assembled by the host–guest complex and construct multilayer hybrid nanostructures. The hierarchical hybrid nanostructures consist of the self-assembled C₆₀D·PD bilayer with a 2D C₆₀·P nanoarray sandwiched between LC dendrons. This advanced strategy is expected to be a practicable and rational guideline for the fabrication of programmed hierarchical hybrid nanostructures.