Dilution-induced self-assembly of porphyrin aggregates: A consequence of coupled equilibria

Article abstract of DOI:10.1002/anie.201000162

Piggy-back porphyrins: The presence of a Lewis base remarkably affects the cooperative self-assembly of zinc porphyrins. Driven by the susceptibility of the monomer towards the axial ligand, monomer scavenging caused depolymerization of porphyrin aggregates, and dilution caused aggregation by a re-entrant phase transition. Model predictions were validated by dilution experiments. Chemical Equation Presentation

Full text of DOI:10.1002/anie.201000162

Angewandte
Chemie
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201000162
Porphyrin Aggregation
Dilution-Induced Self-Assembly of Porphyrin Aggregates:
A Consequence of Coupled Equilibria**
Floris Helmich, Cameron C. Lee, Marko M. L. Nieuwenhuizen, Jeroen C. Gielen,
Peter C. M. Christianen, Antje Larsen, George Fytas, Philippe E. L. G. Leclꢀre,
Albertus P. H. J. Schenning,* and E. W. Meijer*
The self-assembly of organic molecules has attracted sub-
stantial interest as a bottom-up approach to create nano-sized
objects. Their properties depend strongly on the design,
arrangement, and number of molecules in the aggregate. For
supramolecular polymers, the monomers are entirely held
together by non-covalent interactions; these interactions are
typically weak, reversible, and highly sensitive to variables
such as temperature, concentration, and solvent polarity.[1,2]
These variables have often been employed as tools to control
the self-assembly process, but other relatively new methods
like templating[3] and end-capping[4] have also been described.
For these responsive systems, an understanding of the self-
assembly mechanism is a crucial aspect, as different molar
distributions over monomers and aggregates are obtained in
case of isodesmic or cooperative systems.[2] In the latter, the
self-assembly is described by two distinct association con-
stants yielding a bimodal distribution of monomers and
extended aggregates.[5]
porphyrins. We show that pyridine specifically coordinates to
porphyrin monomers that coexist with long, one-dimensional
aggregates, leading to a system with coupled equilibria that
shows extraordinary behavior. At a critical pyridine concen-
tration, a sharp transition to a completely depolymerized state
is observed, which then reassembes upon dilution until the
critical aggregation concentration is reached. To fully verify
these observations with re-entrant phase transitions, it is a
prerequisite to investigate the cooperative nature of the
porphyrin self-assembly without and with pyridine.
Porphyrin 1 is based on a symmetrical amide-substituted
discotic with chiral hydrocarbon side chains (Scheme 1). The
design is inspired by self-assembling porphyrins with similar
Herein, we present the employment of pyridine as an axial
ligand to influence the cooperative self-assembly of zinc
[*] F. Helmich, Dr. C. C. Lee, M. M. L. Nieuwenhuizen,
Dr. A. P. H. J. Schenning, Prof. Dr. E. W. Meijer
Laboratory of Macromolecular and Organic Chemistry
Institute for Complex Molecular Systems
Eindhoven University of Technology
P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven (The Netherlands)
Fax: (+31)40-245-1036
Scheme 1. Chiral amide-functionalized zinc tetraphenylporphyrin 1.
E-mail: a.p.h.j.schenning@tue.nl
e.w.meijer@tue.nl
J. C. Gielen, Dr. P. C. M. Christianen
Institute for Molecules and Materials
Radboud University Nijmegen
functionalization patterns that provide one-dimensional
aggregates in apolar organic solvents.[6] Compound 1 is
synthesized from commercially available meso-tetrakis-
(4-carboxyphenyl)porphyrin and a chiral trialkoxy aniline
wedge.[7] After amidation, zinc insertion, column chromatog-
raphy, and recycling size-exclusion chromatography, porphy-
rin 1 was obtained in 71% yield and fully characterized.[7]
At room temperature, 1 is molecularly dissolved in
chloroform, and it has a sharp Soret band at lmax = 422 nm.
In methylcyclohexane (MCH), a large blue-shift to a broad-
ened band at lmax = 390 nm is observed, which exists even at
sub-micromolar concentrations.[7] This aggregate band, which
is typically observed for cofacially arranged porphyrins,[8]
shows an intense bisignate Cotton effect in the circular
dichroism (CD) spectrum, indicating a helical arrangement of
the chromophores in the aggregate. Solution-based IR
Toernooiveld 7, 6525 ED Nijmegen (The Netherlands)
A. Larsen, Prof. G. Fytas
Department of Material Science, F.O.R.T.H./I.E.S.L.
P.O. Box 1527, 71110 Heraklion (Greece)
Dr. P. E. L. G. Leclꢀre
Laboratory for Chemistry of Novel Materials
Universitꢁ de Mons, 7000 Mons (Belgium)
[**] This work was supported by the Council of Chemical Sciences of the
Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (CW-NWO).
P.E.L.G.L. is Research Associate from FRS-FNRS (Belgium). We
would like to thank Maarten Smulders and Tom de Greef for
stimulating discussions, Tania Larsen for early contributions to the
project, and Prof. Alison Rodger and Dr. Matthew Hicks for
assisting with flow linear dichroism experiments.
Supporting information for this article is available on the WWW
under http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/anie.201000162.
=
spectroscopy in MCH shows a shift of the amide C O
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stretching band to lower wave numbers relative to chloro-
form, indicating intermolecular hydrogen bonding.[7]
The porphyrin assemblies are disrupted by heating, as
evidenced by a red-shifted Soret band at 419 nm and a
disappearance of the CD response. Upon cooling at a
concentration of 5.0 ꢀ 10À5 molLÀ1, an apparent isosbestic
transition from 419 to 390 nm is observed with a reappearance
of the CD effect at 698C (Figure 1).[9] By probing the
absorbance at 390 nm, a non-sigmoidal cooling curve is
observed with a sharp transition at 698C (Figure 1, inset),
which indicates a highly cooperative self-assembly process.[10]
To determine the thermodynamic parameters, we fitted the
cooling curve with a temperature-dependent nucleation–
elongation model, from which we estimate an enthalpy
release of 110 kJmolÀ1 and a high degree of cooperativity
(Ka) of 5 ꢀ 10À5.[11]
Figure 2. a) AFM height image of 1 deposited from methylcyclohexane
on HOPG. Inset: AFM of 1 deposited from same solution with 500
equivalents of pyridine. b) Birefringence Dn=nperpÀnpar induced by a
magnetic field for 1 upon pyridine addition in methylcyclohexane at
room temperature. [1]=5.0ꢂ10À5 molLÀ1
.
(Figure 3a).[13] Without pyridine, the porphyrin Soret band
appears at 390 nm. When 40 equivalents of pyridine are
added, a new red-shifted and split band at 418 and 427 nm
appears. The exciton splitting energy of 500 cmÀ1 is indicative
for a dimeric porphyrin–pyridine adduct.[14] This proposal is
strengthened by the presence of a weak CD spectrum in the
exciton split band region.[7] Ultimately, at a pyridine excess of
80000, this split Soret band gradually converts into a single,
narrow, CD-silent band at 430 nm. This band is identical in
shape and position to a monomeric porphyrin–pyridine
adduct,[13] which suggests that at this rather high pyridine
concentration, the dimeric adducts have dissociated owing to
the increased solvent polarity, breaking up the hydrogen
bonds within the dimer. The full titration curve spanning the
aggregated state (390 nm) and the dimeric pyridine-com-
plexed state (427 nm) shows a sharp transition when either
band is probed (Figure 3b).
As a similar behavior is not observed for the free-base
derivative of 1,[7] the titration data suggest that axial ligation is
responsible for depolymerization. Indeed, the spectral
changes at 390 and 427 nm in the UV/Vis spectra are
accompanied by a disappearance of the CD effect and a
sharp drop in solution viscosity.[7] Moreover, it is observed
that no fibrillar structures are observed in the AFM image
(Figure 2a, inset), the porphyrins no longer align in a
magnetic field (Figure 2b), and low-light scattering intensities
confirm the presence of small adducts.[7]
Figure 1. Temperature-dependent a) UV/Vis and b) CD spectrum of 1
in methylcyclohexane between 20 and 908C with 108C intervals. Inset
in (a) shows a À18CminÀ1 cooling curve probed at 390 nm.
[1]=5.0ꢂ10À5 molLÀ1
.
AFM studies of a drop-cast solution of 1 on HOPG show
micrometer-long curled fibrillar nanostructures with a typical
height of 3 nm, which perfectly matches edge-on stacking of 1
into single fibers onto the surface (Figure 2a). In solution,
static and multi-angle dynamic light-scattering measurements
performed on a 6.6 ꢀ 10À5 molLÀ1 solution of 1 in MCH
indicate rod-like aggregates with a persistence length of
100 nm.[7] Consistent with these results, concentrated solu-
tions of 1 are highly viscous, and the aggregates undergo facile
alignment when placed under flow in a Couette cell or when
placed in a magnetic field (Figure 2b).[7,12]
After elucidation of the self-assembly without pyridine,
the addition of the axial ligand to aggregates of 1 was studied
at room temperature. At 1.2 ꢀ 10À5 molLÀ1, two distinct
transitions are observed upon the addition of pyridine
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Figure 3. a) UV/Vis spectra of porphyrin aggregates in methylcyclohex-
ane at room temperature, with 0, 40, 800, and 80000 equivalents of
pyridine corresponding to aggregates, aggregates and pyridine-com-
plexed dimers, pyridine-complexed dimers, and pyridine-complexed
monomers, respectively. b) Corresponding pyridine titration curves
probed at the aggregate band (390 nm, black) and the pyridine-
complexed dimer band (427 nm, red). Symbols represent data points,
and lines are best-fit curves. [1]=1.2ꢂ10À5 molLÀ1
.
Figure 4. a) A model in which aggregates, monomers, and monomeric
and dimeric porphyrin–pyridine adducts are connected by equilibrium
constants. b) Model simulation with the data obtained from curve
To interpret the shape of the titration curves observed, we
fitted this pyridine titration using experimentally determined
molar absorptivities and equilibrium constants for the por-
phyrin aggregates and porphyrin–pyridine adducts, system-
atically ruling out a variety of different depolymerization
mechanisms based on the quality of the fits obtained.[7] We
have found that the best fits are obtained for a model that
includes 1) cooperative self-assembly of the porphyrins, 2) the
formation of one-to-one adducts between monomers of 1 and
pyridine, and 3) the dimerization of these adducts (Fig-
ure 4a).[15] Given the extremely low concentration of mono-
mers expected for this system (< 10À7 molLÀ1), it is remark-
able that monomers are involved in the equilibrium at all.
However, the statistic effect caused by the cooperative self-
assembly, in which the number of binding sites provided by
monomers is relatively high compared to that number
provided by aggregate end groups, could be the driving
force towards axial ligation of predominantly monomers.[5,16]
Another aspect we would encounter is an affinity difference
of the axial ligand towards monomers and aggregates where
enhanced p–p interactions reduce the affinity of the zinc for
the Lewis base.[17]
fitting at a fixed pyridine excess of 40 equivalents; K2 =685 LmolÀ1
,
K=1.37ꢂ107 LmolÀ1, Kc =5.1ꢂ104 LmolÀ1, and Kd =1.1ꢂ106 LmolÀ1
c) Dilution-induced self-assembly of 1 in MCH at a fixed pyridine
excess of 40 probed over three orders of magnitude in concentration
at room temperature.
.
and four extinction coefficients. To avoid the necessity to fit
all eight parameters from one dataset, we obtained most of
the parameters from separate experiments. The equilibrium
constants describing the cooperative self-assembly of 1 (K2
and K) are derived from the aforementioned temperature-
dependent nucleation–elongation model[18] and the value for
Kc from a control experiment.[13] These measurements also
provide the extinction coefficients, so the only parameters left
for fitting are the dimerization constant (Kd) and the
extinction coefficient of the pyridine-complexed dimer. A
dimerization constant of Kd = 1.1 ꢀ 106 LmolÀ1 is obtained,
which approximates the value of the elongation constant (K).
With all model parameters available, we are able to
simulate the behavior of the system at different conditions. At
a fixed pyridine-to-porphyrin ratio of 40, a strong effect on the
distribution of 1 over the four components is observed when
the total concentration is changed (Figure 4b). At low
concentrations, monomers of 1 do not interact with either
pyridine or themselves. At the critical aggregation concen-
tration (ca. 10À7 molLÀ1), the pyridine interaction is insuffi-
cient to avoid porphyrin self-assembly, yet at about
With absorbance data as output of the model, we
performed simultaneous nonlinear curve-fitting on the pyri-
dine titration data of the aggregate and the pyridine-
complexed dimer at 390 and 427 nm, respectively (Figure 3b).
In the full model, the absorbance at a given wavelength is
determined by eight parameters: four equilibrium constants
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10À6 molLÀ1, pyridine complexation hampers aggregation by
Folmer, J. Hirschberg, R. F. M. Lange, J. K. L. Lowe, E. W.
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the formation of dimers. Because of the high dimerization
constant, pyridine-complexed dimers are formed exclusively,
thus resulting in a low abundance of pyridine-complexed
monomers. The same holds for free monomers that are
involved in the cooperative self-assembly, so in the presence
of pyridine, either aggregates or pyridine-complexed dimers
are the most abundant species.
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The simulation shows that upon dilution from 10À4 to
10À6 molLÀ1, the depolymerized state becomes unfavorable
and aggregation is enhanced. To verify this re-entrant phase
transition, we performed dilution experiments at a fixed
pyridine-to-porphyrin ratio of 40. In the same concentration
window, an almost full transition from the dimeric pyridine-
complexed state to the aggregated state is obtained over two
orders of magnitude in concentration (Figure 4c). This
dilution-induced self-assembly is unusual for supramolecular
polymers and it arises in multi-component systems in which
an additional component affects the cooperative self-assem-
bly by an orthogonal interaction with the main component.
Similar behavior is found in protein systems in which protein
unfolding takes place upon the addition of denaturant, and
renaturation occurs upon dilution albeit the mechanism is
different.[19]
In conclusion, with this class of zinc-porphyrin-based
supramolecular polymers, we can bias the self-assembly
process with the additional tool of molecular recognition by
axial ligation of a Lewis base. Remarkably, driven by the
highly cooperative self-assembly, monomers possess a prime
role in the depolymerization mechanism. Our results showed
that a multi-component system with coupled equilibria leads
to the dilution-induced self-assembly property, which is in
agreement with model predictions. With these findings, we
envision that the approach of systems chemistry provides new
tools in controlling molecular self-assembly and the develop-
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[7] See the Supporting Information.
[8] N. C. Maiti, S. Mazumdar, N. Periasamy, J. Phys. Chem. B 1998,
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[9] Prior to the 30 nm blue-shift, the monomer band slightly
broadens, which is probably due to the formation of an
intermediate state that is weakly CD-active in the monomer
absorbance range.
[10] In the cooling curve, f represents the normalized fraction of
aggregated species. A similar cooling curve is observed when
monitoring the CD intensity, suggesting that the formation of
helical aggregates coincides just after nucleation. Upon further
cooling from Te, the aggregate band shows a slight blue-shift;
causing a small difference in the elongation regime of the cooling
curve probed either by CD or UV/Vis spectroscopy.
[11] M. M. J. Smulders, A. P. H. J. Schenning, E. W. Meijer, J. Am.
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[12] I. O. Shklyarevskiy, P. Jonkheijm, N. Stutzmann, D. Wasserberg,
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[13] The association constant and spectral changes of 1 with pyridine
were determined in chloroform, and showed a red-shift of the
Soret band from 422 to 432 nm (KCHCl = 1.2 ꢀ 104 LmolÀ1). In
3
MCH, the addition of pyridine to an N-methylated analogue 1,[7]
which is molecularly dissolved in this solvent, shows a red-shift
from 419 to 429 nm and a five-fold higher association constant
(Kc = 5.1 ꢀ 104 LmolÀ1).[7]
[14] V. V. Borovkov, J. M. Lintuluoto, Y. Inoue, J. Phys. Chem. B
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[15] Possible two-fold coordination of pyridine to the Zn2+-ions is not
expected to be significant in the concentration range of the
titration and is not included in the model, which also does not
describe the dissociation of pyridine-complexed dimers owing to
polarity.
Received: January 11, 2010
Published online: April 8, 2010
Keywords: aggregation · porphyrins · self-assembly ·
.
[16] At a concentration of 1.2 ꢀ 10À5 molLÀ1, 85% of the binding sites
solvent effects · systems chemistry
is provided by monomers.[7]
[17] C. A. Hunter, P. Leighton, J. K. M. Sanders, J. Chem. Soc. Perkin
Trans. 1 1989, 547.
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