Surfactant‐Induced Interfacial Aggregation of Porphyrins for Structuring Color‐Tunable Liquids

• Published in: Angewandte Chemie International Edition Vol. 60; no. 6; pp. 2871 - 2876
• Main Authors: Gu, Pei‐Yang, Xie, Ganhua, Kim, Paul Y., Chai, Yu, Wu, Xuefei, Jiang, Yufeng, Xu, Qing‐Feng, Liu, Feng, Lu, Jian‐Mei, Russell, Thomas P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 08.02.2021
• Edition: International ed. in English
• Subjects: Agglomeration; Block copolymers; Color; Electrostatic properties; Ethylene oxide; interfacial assembly; interfacial interconversion; Jamming; Liquid-liquid interfaces; Liquids; Locking; multicolor; Nanoparticles; Pollutants; Polyethylene oxide; Polymers; Polystyrene; Polystyrene resins; porphyrin; Porphyrins; structure liquid; Supramolecular polymers; Surfactants; Toluene; interfacial interconversion; porphyrin; multicolor; structure liquid; interfacial assembly
• ISSN: 1433-7851; 1521-3773
• DOI: 10.1002/anie.202012742

Locking nonequilibrium shapes of liquids into targeted architectures by interfacial jamming of nanoparticles is an emerging area in material science. 5,10,15,20‐tetrakis(4‐sulfonatophenyl) porphyrin (H6TPPS) shows three different aggregation states that present an absorption imaging platform to monitor the assembly and jamming of supramolecular polymer surfactants (SPSs) at the liquid/liquid interface. The interfacial interconversion of H6TPPS, specifically H4TPPS2− dissolved in water, from J‐ to an H‐aggregation was induced by strong electrostatic interactions with amine‐terminated polystyrene dissolved in toluene at the water/toluene interface. This resulted in color‐tunable liquids due to interfacial jamming of the SPSs formed between H4TPPS2− and amine‐terminated polystyrene. However, the formed SPSs cannot lock in nonequilibrium shapes of liquids. In addition, a self‐wrinkling behavior was observed when amphiphilic triblock copolymers of PS‐block‐poly(2‐vinylpyridine)‐block‐poly(ethylene oxide) were used to interact with H4TPPS2−. Subsequently, the SPSs formed can lock in nonequilibrium shapes of liquids. Multicolored structured liquids were prepared by tuning the aggregation of porphyrin. J‐ and H‐aggregates of H4TPPS2− and H‐aggregates of H2TPPS4− were formed by the electrostatic interaction between H4TPPS2− and polymer ligands.