Breaking translational symmetry via polymer chain overcrowding in molecular bottlebrush crystallization.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 32358513.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-020-15477-5 and PMC identifier 7195396.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
One of the fundamental laws in crystallization is translational symmetry, which accounts for the profound shapes observed in natural mineral crystals and snowflakes. Herein, we report on the spontaneous formation of spherical hollow crystals with broken translational symmetry in crystalline molecular bottlebrush (mBB) polymers. The unique structure is named as mBB crystalsome (mBBC), highlighting its similarity to the classical molecular vesicles. Fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) experiments show that the mBBC formation is driven by local chain overcrowding-induced asymmetric lamella bending, which is further confirmed by correlating crystalsome size with crystallization temperature and mBB's side chain grafting density. Our study unravels a new principle of spontaneous translational symmetry breaking, providing a general route towards designing versatile nanostructures.