DESIGN OF NEW MACROMOLECULAR ARCHITECTURES BY USING QUASI-EQUIVALENT MONODENDRONS AS BUILDING-BLOCKS

Quasi-equivalent building blocks are chemically identical subunits whi ch self-control their shape by switching between different conformatio nal states. Classic biological examples are the flat-tapered and conic al protein coats which jacket nucleic acids during the self-assembly o f rod-like and icosahedral viruses, respectively. This paper advances the hypothesis that monodendrons can act as synthetic quasi-equivalent building blocks. The rational design of flat-tapered and cone shaped quasi-equivalent monodendrons and their use in the construction of thr ee dimensional supramolecular and macromolecular rod-like and spherica l systems demonstrates the above hypothesis. Mechanisms which intercon vert the spherical systems into rod-like ones by using the same monode ndron building blocks, thus demonstrating their quasi-equivalence, wil l be exemplified.