Synthesis and self-assembly of a triphenylene-containing amphiphilic conjugated macrocycle

A new amphiphilic pi-conjugated system containing a shape-persistent conjugated macrocycle with two triphenylene chromophores as the anchoring units has been successfully synthesized. The amphiphilic macrocycle has been found to self-assemble into robust and uniform microspheres, presumably due to the strong pi-pi stacking interaction between triphenylene chromophores. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.