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Science 22 January 1999:
Vol. 283. no. 5401, pp. 523 - 526
DOI: 10.1126/science.283.5401.523
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Reports

Conversion of Supramolecular Clusters to Macromolecular Objects

Eugene R. Zubarev, Martin U. Pralle, Leiming Li, Samuel I. Stupp *dagger

In a reaction proceeding within a nanoscopic volume, supramolecular clusters were transformed to polymer objects while retaining their shape and size. Spatial isolation of the cross-linkable blocks of oligobutadiene that were involved in this stitching reaction was achieved by self-assembly of the molecules that made up the clusters. Thermal activation of cross-linking yielded macromolecules (molecular weight of 70,000) with a narrow size distribution that was similar to that of the supramolecular clusters. The macromolecules obtained have an anisotropic shape (2 nanometers by 8 nanometers), as determined by electron microscopy and small-angle x-ray scattering, and form materials that exhibit a liquid crystalline state.

Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Department of Chemistry, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: s-stupp{at}nwu.edu

dagger    Present address: Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.

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