Electrostatic Self-Assembly as Route to Supramolecular Structures

We introduce and discuss the recently developed concept of electrostatic self-assembly for the formation of nanoscale assemblies in solution. As opposed to many approaches to self-assembly relying on amphiphilicity, the driving force here is electrostatics plus secondary interaction such as stacking of aromatic molecule parts: Polyelectrolyte dendrimers can be linked with multiply charged aromatic dye molecules as structural counterions yielding 100 nm scale aggregates of narrow size distribution and different shapes. We discuss competing interaction forces and the potential of this approach to lead to versatile and functional supramolecular structures.