Narcissistic versus social! G. Fernández et al. report on the self-assembly of two structurally related oligophenyleneethynylene (OPE) derivatives featuring polar or nonpolar peripheral chains and their remarkable narcissistic versus social self-sorting behaviour in aqueous media that can be controlled by concentration and solvent changes. Between 0.01 and 0.1 mm the mixture of both OPEs self-assembles into independent spherical aggregates, whereas a slight increase in concentration to 1 mm induces a co-assembly process, giving rise to large ribbon-like aggregates.
Three-dimensional ordering in liquid-crystalline polymers is induced by the photopolymerization of a mixture of mesogens sandwiched between two patterned substrates. By incorporating an infrared-sensitive dye in the mixture, polymer films that undergo reversible shape deformations on heating are formed.
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