benzene-1-3-5-tricarboxamide and nonane

A coarse-grained (CG) force field to model the self-assembly of benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxamide (BTA) class of compounds in nonpolar solvents has been developed. The model includes an intrinsic point dipole embedded on one of the CG beads so as to impart a macrodipole moment to the oligomer, one of its characteristic feature. Chemical specificity has been preserved by benchmarking against results, including dimerization and solvation free energies, obtained from an all-atom representation. Starting from a well-dispersed configuration in n-nonane, BTA molecules self-assemble to form one-dimensional stacks. Free energy (FE) changes for the various manner in which short oligomers can exchange between the assembled and the dispersed states have been calculated. These calculations show BTA to self-assemble via a downhill cooperative mechanism with a nucleus size of three.

Topics: Alkanes; Benzamides; Molecular Conformation; Molecular Dynamics Simulation; Polymerization; Solvents; Thermodynamics

Supramolecular polymerization in the family of benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxamide (BTA) has been investigated using atomistic molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Gas phase calculations using a nonpolarizable force field reproduce the cooperativity in binding energy and intermolecular structure seen in quantum chemical calculations. Both quantum chemical and force field based calculations suggest that the ground state structure of the BTA dimer contains two donor hydrogen bonds and one acceptor hydrogen bond rather than the conjectured three-donor and zero-acceptor hydrogen-bonded state. MD simulations of BTA molecules in a realistic solvent, n-nonane, demonstrate the self-assembly process. The free energy (FE) of dimerization and of solvation has been determined. The solvated dimer of BTA with hexyl tails is more stable than two monomers by about 13 kcal/mol. Furthermore, the FE of association of a BTA molecule to an oligomer exhibits a dependence on the oligomer size, which is a robust signature of cooperative self-assembly.

Topics: Alkanes; Benzamides; Dimerization; Hydrogen Bonding; Kinetics; Molecular Dynamics Simulation; Quantum Theory; Solvents; Thermodynamics