"Supramolecular" assembly of gold nanorods end-terminated with polymer "pom-poms": effect of pom-pom structure on the association modes.

We report a predefined self-organization of gold nanorods (NRs) end-terminated with multiple polymer arms ("pom-poms") in higher-order structures. The assembly of polymer-tethered NRs was controlled by changing the structure of the polymer pom-poms. We show that the variation in the molecular weight of the polymer molecules and their relative location with respect to the long side of the NRs resulted in two competing association modes of the nanorods, that is, their side-by-side and end-to-end assembly, and produced bundles, chains, rings, and bundled chains of the NRs. The superposition of the two variables controlling the organization of NRs allowed us to create a map showing the variation in the longitudinal plasmonic bands of the NRs achieved by their self-assembly.

[1]  Chad A Mirkin,et al.  Multisegmented one-dimensional nanorods prepared by hard-template synthetic methods. , 2006, Angewandte Chemie.

[2]  S. Glotzer,et al.  Anisotropy of building blocks and their assembly into complex structures. , 2007, Nature materials.

[3]  Uwe H F Bunz,et al.  Preferential end-to-end assembly of gold nanorods by biotin-streptavidin connectors. , 2003, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[4]  D. Knauss,et al.  Star-block-Linear-block-Star Triblock (Pom-Pom) Polystyrene by Convergent Living Anionic Polymerization , 2002 .

[5]  Weidong Yang,et al.  Linearly Polarized Emission from Colloidal Semiconductor Quantum Rods , 2001, Science.

[6]  S. Glotzer,et al.  Self-assembly of laterally-tethered nanorods. , 2006, Nano letters.

[7]  Myongsoo Lee,et al.  Helical nanofibers from aqueous self-assembly of an oligo(p-phenylene)-based molecular dumbbell. , 2005, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[8]  Uri Banin,et al.  Selective Growth of Metal Tips onto Semiconductor Quantum Rods and Tetrapods , 2004, Science.

[9]  Lin-Wang Wang,et al.  Spontaneous Superlattice Formation in Nanorods Through Partial Cation Exchange , 2007, Science.

[10]  Eunji Lee,et al.  Two-dimensional assembly of rod amphiphiles into planar networks. , 2007, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[11]  T. Emrick,et al.  Surface-functionalized CdSe nanorods for assembly in diblock copolymer templates. , 2006, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[12]  Bing Xu,et al.  Facile one-pot synthesis of bifunctional heterodimers of nanoparticles: a conjugate of quantum dot and magnetic nanoparticles. , 2004, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[13]  David R. Smith,et al.  Interparticle Coupling Effects on Plasmon Resonances of Nanogold Particles , 2003 .

[14]  J. Stouffer.  Metal-polymer interfaces: Molecular level synthesis and characterization of a platinum-polystyrene interface and polymer monolayers prepared by the spontaneous adsorption of sulfur - functionalized polystyrene on gold surfaces , 1988 .

[15]  P. G. de Gennes,et al.  Polymers at an interface; a simplified view , 1987 .

[16]  P. Jain,et al.  Plasmon coupling in nanorod assemblies: optical absorption, discrete dipole approximation simulation, and exciton-coupling model. , 2006, The journal of physical chemistry. B.

[17]  E. Zubarev,et al.  Amphiphilicity-driven organization of nanoparticles into discrete assemblies. , 2006, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[18]  M. Shim,et al.  γ-Fe2O3/II−VI Sulfide Nanocrystal Heterojunctions , 2005 .

[19]  Bing Xu,et al.  Heterodimers of nanoparticles: formation at a liquid-liquid interface and particle-specific surface modification by functional molecules. , 2005, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[20]  C. Murphy,et al.  One-dimensional colloidal gold and silver nanostructures. , 2006, Inorganic chemistry.

[21]  A. Requicha,et al.  Plasmonics—A Route to Nanoscale Optical Devices , 2001 .

[22]  Huimeng Wu,et al.  Oriented assembly of Au nanorods using biorecognition system. , 2005, Chemical communications.

[23]  Mostafa A. El-Sayed,et al.  Preparation and Growth Mechanism of Gold Nanorods (NRs) Using Seed-Mediated Growth Method , 2003 .

[24]  Uri Banin,et al.  Directed self-assembly of gold-tipped CdSe nanorods. , 2006, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[25]  Chad A Mirkin,et al.  Self-Assembly of Mesoscopic Metal-Polymer Amphiphiles , 2004, Science.

[26]  K. G. Thomas,et al.  Gold Nanorods to Nanochains: Mechanistic Investigations on Their Longitudinal Assembly Using α,ω-Alkanedithiols and Interplasmon Coupling , 2006 .

[27]  Haitao Liu,et al.  Electric-field-assisted assembly of perpendicularly oriented nanorod superlattices. , 2006, Nano letters.

[28]  Eunji Lee,et al.  Controlled Self-Assembly of Asymmetric Dumbbell-Shaped Rod Amphiphiles: Transition from Toroids to Planar Nets , 2007 .

[29]  T. A. Hatton,et al.  Preparation and controlled self-assembly of Janus magnetic nanoparticles. , 2007, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[30]  Paul Mulvaney,et al.  Gold nanorods: Synthesis, characterization and applications , 2005 .

[31]  A. Alivisatos,et al.  Hybrid Nanorod-Polymer Solar Cells , 2002, Science.

[32]  Liberato Manna,et al.  Synthesis, properties and perspectives of hybrid nanocrystal structures. , 2006, Chemical Society reviews.

[33]  Eunji Lee,et al.  Nanorings from the self-assembly of amphiphilic molecular dumbbells. , 2006, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[34]  V. Schulz,et al.  Thermodynamisches verhalten, expansionskoeffizient und viskositätszahl von polystyrol in tetrahydrofuran , 1968 .

[35]  B. Wolf,et al.  Measured and calculated solubility of polymers in mixed solvents: Co‐nonsolvency , 1978 .

[36]  Tymish Y. Ohulchanskyy,et al.  A general approach to binary and ternary hybrid nanocrystals. , 2006, Nano letters.

[37]  Luis M Liz-Marzán,et al.  Aligning Au nanorods by using carbon nanotubes as templates. , 2005, Angewandte Chemie.

[38]  E. Zubarev,et al.  Rings of nanorods. , 2007, Angewandte Chemie.

[39]  Daniele Fava,et al.  Self-assembly of metal-polymer analogues of amphiphilic triblock copolymers. , 2007, Nature materials.

[40]  Sharon C Glotzer,et al.  Self-assembly of polymer-tethered nanorods. , 2005, Physical review letters.

[41]  K. G. Thomas,et al.  Selective detection of cysteine and glutathione using gold nanorods. , 2005, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[42]  Stephen Mann,et al.  DNA-driven self-assembly of gold nanorods , 2001 .