Liquid crystalline hydrogen-bonded rosettes

In this thesis different aspects of functional hydrogen-bonded (double and tetrarosette) assemblies are described. The functions were inspired by naturally occurring phenomena such as self-organization, supramolecular chirality, and the correct folding of proteins. The studies presented in this thesis are focused on the synthesis of supramolecular materials by these noncovalent assemblies. The emphasis is on liquid crystals (and gels), which are able to interact with the environment and adapt to it. Double and tetrarosette assemblies are formed upon mixing calix[4]arene dimelamines and calix[4]arene tetramelamines in apolar solvents with barbiturate and cyanurate derivatives in a 1:2 and 1:4 ratio, respectively. The assembly process is driven by the formation of 36 (double rosette) or 72 (tetrarosette) hydrogen bonds between the complementary hydrogen bonding arrays of different building blocks, leading to assemblies with high thermodynamic stability.