Advances in Switchable Supramolecular Nanoassemblies

Supramolecular nanoassemblies are gaining increasing importance as promising new materials with considerable potential for novel and promising applications. Within supramolecular nanoassemblies the connectivity of the monomeric units is based on reversible noncovalent interactions, like van der Waals interactions, hydrogen bonding, or ionic interactions. As the strength of these interactions depends on the molecular surrounding, the formation of nanoassemblies in principle can be controlled externally by changing the environment and/or the molecular shape of the underlying monomer. This way it is not only possible to switch the self-assembly on or off, but also to change between different aggregation states. In this minireview we present some recent selected approaches to supramolecular stimuli-responsive nanoassemblies.