Hydrophobic domain flexibility enables morphology control of amphiphilic systems in aqueous media

Herein, we introduce the concept of hydrophobic domain flexibility to control the morphology of aqueous assemblies. To this end, we examined two amphiphilic 4,4-difluoro-4-bora-3 a ,4 a -diaza- s -indacene (BODIPY) dyes that differ in the flexibility of the hydrophobic residue (tetradecyl vs. cholesterol). This minor structural difference significantly affects the self-assembly behaviour (spherical vs. two-dimensional sheets) by overruling the packing parameters. In this work, we unravel the impact of hydrophobic domain flexibility on the self-assembly pathways and aggregate morphology of amphiphilic systems in aqueous media.