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Abstract Herein, we examine pathway complexity in the supramolecular polymerization of a novelm‐terphenyl bis‐urea macrocycle. Designed to induce kinetically metastable states, the macrocycle‘s concentration‐dependent aggregation was studied via¹H NMR and IR spectroscopy in THF and CHCl₃. Temperature‐dependent UV‐Vis spectroscopy in water/THF revealed a cooperative nucleation‐growth mechanism, indicated by a shift in λmax to longer wavelengths upon cooling. Morphological studies using DLS, AFM, and SEM demonstrated fibrous aggregate formation. Thermal hysteresis observed in assembly‐disassembly cycles indicated kinetically trapped species, with cooling governed by kinetic control and heating by thermodynamic processes. Deviations in ΔH values during cooling, compared to van′t Hoff analysis and alignment of heating ΔH values with thermodynamic predictions, reinforced this distinction. Spontaneous nucleation retardation, resulting from monomer trapping, led to lag times of up to 50 minutes under specific conditions. Computational studies revealed the parallel urea conformation as the more stable monomer configuration, whereas the antiparallel conformation is more stable in dimers. By probing pathway complexity of the macrocycle, we demonstrate a distinct ability to control and stabilize kinetically trapped states, broadening the scope for designing macrocyclic supramolecular polymers with tailored properties. This work deepens our understanding of supramolecular dynamics, exploring ON‐pathway mechanisms and advancing tunable supramolecular materials. 

Abstract We report on a dendronized bis‐urea macrocycle1self‐assembling via a cooperative mechanism into two‐dimensional (2D) nanosheets formed solely by alternated urea‐urea hydrogen bonding interactions. The pure macrocycle self‐assembles in bulk into one‐dimensional liquid‐crystalline columnar phases. In contrast, its self‐assembly mode drastically changes in CHCl₃or tetrachloroethane, leading to 2D hydrogen‐bonded networks. Theoretical calculations, complemented by previously reported crystalline structures, indicate that the 2D assembly is formed by a brick‐like hydrogen bonding pattern between bis‐urea macrocycles. This assembly is promoted by the swelling of the trisdodecyloxyphenyl groups upon solvation, which frustrates, due to steric effects, the formation of the thermodynamically more stable columnar macrocycle stacks. This work proposes a new design strategy to access 2D supramolecular polymers by means of a single non‐covalent interaction motif, which is of great interest for materials development. 

Abstract Herein, we probe the hydrogen bond‐driven self‐assembly of a triphenylamine (TPA) bis‐urea macrocycle in the presence and absence of guests. Comprised of methylene urea‐bridged TPAs with exterior tridodecyloxy benzene solubilizing groups, the macrocycle exhibits concentration‐dependent aggregate formation in THF and H₂O/THF mixtures as characterized by¹H NMR and DOSY experiments. Its assembly processes were further probed by temperature‐dependent UV/Vis and fluorescence spectroscopy. Upon heating, UV/Vis spectra exhibit a hypsochromic shift in the λ_max, while fluorescence spectra show an increase in emission intensity. Conversely, the protected macrocycle that lacks hydrogen bond donors demonstrates no significant change. Thermodynamic analysis indicates a cooperative self‐assembly pathway with distinct nucleation and elongation regimes. The morphology and structure of the aggregate were elucidated by dynamic light scattering, atomic force microscopy, scanning and transmission electron microscopy. Variable temperature emission spectra were utilized to monitor the impact of guests, such as diphenylacetylene, that can be bound in the columnar channels. The findings suggest that the elongation of assemblies is influenced by the presence of these guests. In comparison, diphenyl sulfoxide, likely functioning as a chain stopper, limited the assembly size. These studies suggest that judicious selection of (co)monomers may modulate the function and utility of these supramolecular systems. 

Achieving tunable electrical conductivity in organic materials is a key challenge for the development of next-generation semiconductors. This study demonstrates a novel approach using triphenylamine (TPA) bis-urea macrocycles as supramolecular hosts for guest-induced modulation of charge-transfer (CT) properties. By encapsulating guests with varying reduction potentials, including 2,5-dichloro-1,4-benzoquinone (ClBQ), 2,1,3-benzothiadiazole (BTD), and malononitrile (MN), we observed significant changes in the electrical conductivity. Crystals of the 1(ClBQ)0.31 complex exhibited an electrical conductivity of ∼2.08 × 10–5 S cm–1, a 10,000-fold enhancement compared to the pristine host. This is attributed to efficient CT observed in spectroscopic analyses and is consistent with the computed small HOMO–LUMO gap (2.92 eV) in a model of the host–guest system. 1(MN)0.39 and 1(BTD)0.5 demonstrated moderate conductivities explained by the interplay of electronic coupling, reorganization energy, and energy gap. Lower ratios of guest inclusion decreased the electrical conductivity by 10-fold in 1(ClBQ)0.18, while 1(MN)0.25 and 1(BTD)0.41 were nonconductive (10–9 S cm–1). This work highlights the potential of metal-free, porous organic systems as tunable semiconductors, offering a pathway to innovative applications in organic electronics. 

The structures and photoinduced radical (PIR) percentages of two crystalline solvates of unsubstituted triphenylamine bis-urea macrocycles are compared. Upon activation, both afford similar structures with higher PIR %. 

In this study, we combine experiments, calculated properties, and machine learning (ML) to design new triphenylamine-based (TPA) molecules that have a high photoinduced radical (PIR) generation in crystals. A dataset of 34 crystal structures was extracted from the Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre. Eighteen structures with experimentally reported PIR values from 0 to 0.85% were used to build an ML model trained using Random Forest that achieves an average leave-one-out test set error of 0.173% PIR. The ML model was used to screen the remaining 16 compounds, of which 4 were selected and sub-sequently compared with the experimentally measured PIR%. The predicted PIR% demonstrated good agreement with the measured values of TPA bis-urea macrocycles host-guest complexes and non-macrocyclic compounds of TPAs. Examining a broad set of molecular architectures/scaffolds allows for investigating the structural and electronic properties that lead to high PIR generation. We found very different trends for macrocycles, linear TPAs, and mono TPAs, where mono TPAs consist-ently have the lowest PIR generation. Macrocycles tend to have the highest PIR generation, especially for systems with ben-zene and fluorobenzene guests. Although linear analogs overall perform worse than macrocycles, they display clear trends with increasing excited-state dipole moment, oscillator strength and electron-hole covariance, while decreasing ionization potential and interatomic distance are generally correlated with higher PIRs. What is consistently observed is that higher PIRs are seen for brominated analogs. Our study, therefore, provides guidelines for future design strategies of TPAs for PIR generation. 

Herein, we investigate supramolecular gelation behavior of a dendronized triphenylamine bis-urea macrocycle (1) in toluene in the presence and absence of sulfoxide chain stoppers. Macrocycle 1 assembles in the sol phase through intermolecular hy-drogen bonding interactions, spontaneously transitioning into a gel state when left undisturbed at room temperature. In tolu-ene, 1 displays a critical gelation concentration of 0.066 wt%, classifying it as a super-gelator. Furthermore, it exhibits a thermoreversible gel-sol phase transition as well as thixotropic behavior. Temperature-dependent 1H NMR spectroscopy is employed to probe the sol phase assembly of 1 with the size variations at different temperatures assessed by 2D DOSY. Rheological experiments at 10 °C were used to measure gelation response to mechanical stimuli. An amplitude sweep test highlights a linear viscoelastic region. Additionally, the self-healing behavior of gel 1 was verified through a series of strain cycles, where it showed complete recovery. Addition of chain stoppers 10% versus 1 of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and diphenyl sulfoxide (DPS) lead to weaker gels with smaller differences between the storage and the loss moduli. Rheological analysis revealed slower/partial recovery for the gel containing chain stoppers. Gels assembled from macrocyclic building blocks may retain homogeneous binding cavity and channels offering novel functional properties.