TY - JOUR A1 - El Malah, T. A1 - Ciesielski, A. A1 - Piot, L. A1 - Troyanov, S.I. A1 - Mueller, U. A1 - Weidner, Steffen A1 - Samorì, P. A1 - Hecht, S. T1 - Conformationally pre-organized and pH-responsive flat dendrons: synthesis and self-assembly at the liquid-solid interface N2 - Efficient Cu-catalyzed 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions have been used to prepare two series of three regioisomers of G-1 and G-2 poly(triazole-pyridine) dendrons. The G-1 and G-2 dendrons consist of branched yet conformationally pre-organized 2,6-bis(phenyl/pyridyl-1,2,3-triazol-4-yl)pyridine (BPTP) monomeric and trimeric cores, respectively, carrying one focal and either two or four peripheral alkyl side chains. In the solid state, the conformation and supramolecular organization were studied by means of a single crystal X-ray structure analysis of one derivative. At the liquid–solid interface, the self-assembly behavior was investigated by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) on graphite surfaces. Based on the observed supramolecular organization, it appears that the subtle balance between conformational preferences inherent in the dendritic backbone on the one side and the adsorption and packing of the alkyl side chains on the graphite substrate on the other side dictate the overall structure formation in 2D. KW - Dendrons KW - MALDI Massenspektrometrie PY - 2012 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/c1nr11434d SN - 2040-3364 SN - 2040-3372 VL - 4 SP - 467 EP - 472 PB - RSC Publ. CY - Cambridge AN - OPUS4-25378 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bléger, D. A1 - Liebig, T. A1 - Thiermann, Raphael A1 - Maskos, Michael A1 - Rabe, J.P. A1 - Hecht, S. T1 - Light-orchestrated macromolecular 'accordions': reversible photoinduced shrinking of rigid-rod polymers N2 - Lichtspiele: Lichteinstrahlung verursacht drastische Änderungen der Form stabförmiger Polymere mit Azobenzol‐Photochromen in der Hauptkette. Die eingebetteten Photoschalter wirken als molekulare Scharniere, die bei lichtinduzierter Isomerisierung zur reversiblen Schrumpfung und Streckung des Polymerrückgrats führen (siehe Schema); das System erinnert an ein lichtorchestriertes makromolekulares Akkordeon. N2 - Synthetic molecular systems undergoing structure and property changes as a response to external stimuli offer a series of relevant functions. Their direct use in solution, immobilized at surfaces, or integrated into adequate matrices, allow for the elaboration of nano-carriers, molecular electronic memory circuits, adaptive systems, artificial muscles, or healable materials, among others. Reversible systems are commonly generated by utilizing molecular switches as responsive bi-stable molecules. Of particular interest are switches controlled by non-invasive triggers, especially light, which can display high spatial and temporal resolution. Photoswitches were used to change properties, such as conductance and basicity, based on light-induced alteration of the molecular geometry, that is, their dimensions and shape. In nature, light-induced geometrical modifications of molecular systems lead to primary biological functions, such as the visual perception in vertebrates, or proton pumping in some bacteria, two examples that nicely illustrate the potential of photo-inducing structural modifications in organic systems. KW - Aggregation KW - Azoverbindungen KW - Nanostrukturen KW - Photochromie KW - Polymere PY - 2011 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/ange.201106879 SN - 0044-8249 SN - 0932-2140 SN - 1521-3757 VL - 123 IS - 52 SP - 12767 EP - 12771 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim AN - OPUS4-25394 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Yu, Z. A1 - Weidner, Steffen A1 - Risse, T. A1 - Hecht, S. T1 - The role of statistics and microenvironment for the photoresponse in multi-switch architectures: The case of photoswitchable oligoazobenzene foldamers N2 - Systems containing multiple photochromic units possibly display a synergistic interplay of individual switching events and hence potentially give rise to unprecedented photoresponsive behavior. Among such systems photoswitchable foldamers are attractive as the photoisomerization events are coupled to the helix–coil conformational transition. To gain comprehensive insight into the role of the number of switching units (statistics) as well as their specific location and relative orientation in the helix backbone, several series of foldamers have been synthesized and characterized. In these series of foldamers, the local environment of the photoswitchable units was precisely tuned as π,π-stacking interactions were enforced to occur between specific pairs, i.e. azobenzene–azobenzene, azobenzene–tolane, or phenylene–phenylene units. These particular arrangements are reflected not only in the stability of the helical conformation, but also affect the photoresponsive behavior, i.e. the rate of photoisomerization and extent of denaturation. Furthermore, determining the intramolecular spin–spin distance in a series of TEMPO-labeled foldamers with variable chain lengths and different spatial locations of the spin-labels deduced an independent verification of the photoinduced helix–coil transition by ESR spectroscopy. Quantitative analysis of the corresponding ESR spectra shows an excellent correlation of the extent of intramolecular spin–spin coupling and the intensity of the Cotton effect in CD spectroscopy. From all of these results an unusual relationship between the rate of photoisomerization and the extent of photoinduced denaturation could be unraveled, as they are not going hand-in-hand but compete with each other, i.e. the easier the individual switching event is, the harder it becomes to achieve a high degree of unfolding. This insight into the effect of microenvironment on the ease of individual switching events and the role of statistics on the resulting degree of the overall conformational transition is of general interest for the design of multi-switch architectures with improved photoresponse. KW - Polymers KW - Photoswitchable KW - Oligoazobenzene KW - Foldamers PY - 2013 DO - https://doi.org/10.1039/c3sc51664d SN - 2041-6520 SN - 2041-6539 VL - 4 IS - 11 SP - 4156 EP - 4167 PB - RSC CY - Cambridge AN - OPUS4-29814 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Einhorn-Stoll, U. A1 - Kastner, H. A1 - Hecht, T. A1 - Zimathies, Annett A1 - Drusch, S. T1 - Modification and physico-chemical properties of citrus pectin - Influence of enzymatic and acidic demethoxylation N2 - Aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of the method of demethoxylation on the particle structure and techno-functional properties of pectins with different degree of methoxylation and distribution of free carboxyl groups. Two groups of model pectins, one with 57% and one with 42% degree of methoxylation have been prepared from one single commercial pectin. Modifications were performed by an acidic and two enzymatic methods using fungal and plant-derived pectin methyl esterases. Thermal stability was investigated by thermal analysis and water uptake was determined by a sorption and a capillary sucking method. The enzyme-treated pectins were thermally less stable than the acid-treated. The water uptake of enzyme-treated pectins was higher than in acid-treated samples in the sorption method and lower in the capillary sucking tests. The different behaviour is explained by differences in pH during demethoxylation and a co-occurring variation in sodium content. Both parameters affected intermolecular interactions of the pectin macromolecules in solution, which resulted in differences in the particle morphology. The effect of the distribution of free carboxyl groups (statistical or block-wise) on the techno-functional properties was more pronounced in high-methoxylated pectins than in low-methoxylated pectins. KW - Pectin KW - Demethoxylation KW - PH-influence KW - Thermal stability KW - Water sorption PY - 2015 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodhyd.2015.05.031 SN - 0268-005X VL - 51 SP - 338 EP - 345 PB - Elsevier Science CY - Amsterdam [u.a.] AN - OPUS4-33616 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - El Malah, T. A1 - Rolf, Simone A1 - Weidner, Steffen A1 - Thünemann, Andreas A1 - Hecht, S. T1 - Amphiphilic folded dendrimer discs and their thermosensitive self-assembly in water N2 - Folded dendrimers with peripheral ether side chains show a thermally induced hierarchical aggregation process, in which the transition temperature and the dimensions of the aggregates can readily be tuned via the generation number (see figure). KW - Click chemistry KW - Cotton effect KW - Dendrimers KW - Hierarchical self-assembly KW - Thermochemistry PY - 2012 DO - https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.201200414 SN - 0947-6539 SN - 1521-3765 VL - 18 IS - 19 SP - 5837 EP - 5842 PB - Wiley-VCH Verl. CY - Weinheim AN - OPUS4-25822 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -