Cooperative intermolecular interactions regulate supramolecular polymer assembly

Supramolecular chemistry involves the study of self-assembly of discrete molecules that are used to build large functional structures. Often, these molecules are allowed to self-assemble into one-dimensional polymeric structures (supramolecular polymers or SPs) in a suitable environment, and the dynamic molecular interactions are noted for tweaking the environment and improving the features of the resulting SPs. They are being explored as the next-generation polymeric materials with applications in electronics, soft-robotics, nanofabrication, and biomedical fields.