Self-Organization on Multiple Length Scales in ``Hairy-Rod''--Coil Block Copolymer Supramolecular Complexes

A peptide-synthetic hybrid block copolymer, poly(ethylene oxide)-block-poly(L-glutamic acid), is demonstrated to form supramolecular complexes with primary alkylamines of varying alkyl chain length (8 to 18 methylene units) in organic solvents via acid-base proton transfer and subsequent ionic bonding. The peptidic block being in the $\alpha $-helical conformation, these materials behave as coil-``hairy rod'' block copolymers, and show hierarchically self-organized nanostructures in the solid state; X-ray scattering measurements show mesomorphic behavior at the length scales of both the overall block copolymer and the polypeptide-alkylammonium complex.