A phosphonic acid appended naphthalene diimide motif for self-assembly into tunable nanostructures through molecular recognition with arginine in water

Supramolecular self-assembly and self-organisation of small molecules play an important role in nano- and biotechnology.1 Selfassembly in a controlled fashion withinpseudo 1-D to form organized nanostructures is the subject of current research.2 These paradigms have been widely studied with large aromatic macrocycles, especially in the design of conducting materials.3 Among them, 1,4,5,8-naphthalene diimides (NDIs) have attracted much attention due to their tendency to form n-type rather than p-type semiconducting materials.4 NDIs have allowed several research groups to probe the function of this dye molecule in a molecular and supramolecular sense.5 NDIs appended with various motifs such as amino acids,6 pyridyl–metal complexes,7 quaternion ammonium salts,8 phosphonates, carboxylates9 and hydrophilic as well as hydrophobic character10 have been used for decades for the formation of various supramolecular architectures such as nanotubes,11 nanobelts,12 organogels,13 hydrogels,14 synthetic ion channels,15 nanoparticles,16 fluorescent chemosensors17 and artificial supramolecular photosystems.18 Amongst all, the formation of nanobelts is an important task as the large area interface of nanobelts, when deposited on electrodes, facilitates the fabrication of optoelectronic devices with electrical contact.