Self‐Assembly of Diacetylene‐Bridged Phenylenevinylene Oligomers in Water and Organic Solvents

Rodlike π‐conjugated molecules in which two OPV fragments are connected through a diacetylene bond self‐assemble in aqueous and organic media. Optical spectroscopy and AFM measurements indicated that, in water, strong hydrophobic interactions between π‐cores promote aggregation into robust, uniform micellar structures. In contrast, in apolar solvents, a fibrilar morphology is obtained by coiling of columnar stacks. These stacks are formed in a nucleation‐elongation process with degrees of cooperativity of 0.006, that is influenced by the low rotation barriers around the σ‐bonds in the diacetylene linker. Dual self‐assembly: Novel rod‐like, diacetylene‐linked oligo(phenylenevinylene) molecules exhibit distinct self‐assembly as function of the solvent environment. In water, these π‐conjugated molecules aggregate into robust, uniform micellar structures. In alkanes a coiled‐coil morphology is instead formed in a cooperative nucleation‐elongation process.