Nanoscale organization of conjugated rods in rod-coil molecules

Conjugated rod molecules bearing flexible coil polymer moieties on both ends self-organize into one-dimensional (1D) or two-dimensional (2D) structures, and eventually into a three-dimensional (3D) tetragonal superlattice, depending on the number of monomeric units in the coils. The 3D ordered rods exhibit a highly extended fluorescence lifetime over the 1D or 2D arrays, making synthethic control of the rod-to-coil volume fraction a viable strategy to regulate photophysical properties.