LAUSR

Abstract Benefiting from the high binding affinity of 1,3,6,8-tetrakis(p-benzoic acid) pyrene (H4TBAPy) with three different amines (urea, melamine (MA) and terminal amino hyperbranched polymer (HP)), H4TBAPy produced self-assemblies with various morphologies, such as small flower-like, long fibers, three-dimensional (3D) flower shape and banana-like etc. Fluorescence spectra, dynamic light scattering (DLS), optical micrographs (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were employed to monitor the self-assembly process and characterize the resultant assemblies. It was found that the π-π stacking of the planar aromatic pyrene core of H4TBAPy, electrostatic interaction and hydrogen bonding (H-bonding) interactions between the carboxylic acid group (-COOH) of H4TBAPy and the amino group of urea, MA, HP were the main driving forces for the self-assembly processes. This work may provide a powerful method to construct well-defined nanostructures with different morphologies by non-covalent interactions of two components.