Chirality and Supramolecular Copolymerizations – The Elusive Role of Subtle Solvation Effects

Recent investigations of supramolecular polymers based on chiral triphenylene-2,6,10-tricarboxamides (TTAs) showed how temperature-induced changes in solvation can greatly influence the preferred helical conformation of the supramolecular polymers formed. Here, we combine chiral TTA with achiral copolymerization partners to further investigate temperature-dependent solvation effects. Systematic variation of the system's composition shows clear impacts on the temperature window where the conformational change occurs. Further, simple chain length variations in the achiral comonomer greatly affect the ability to influence the conformational change in the copolymer, while the differences in the properties of the individual homopolymers are rather small. We herein highlight how subtle changes in the monomers can impact the observed copolymer properties drastically; an effect arising from the emerging complexity of multicomponent interactions in supramolecular copolymers with solvent-solute interactions being more important than typically thought.