Molecular Co-assembly: Development and Future Perspective

Abstract

In this book the basic concept of co-assembly is thoroughly discussed. Moreover the use of the co-assembled molecules is also highlighted. Self-assembly of amphiphilic molecules holds promise in various applications in the field of biomedical engineering and nanotechnology. Low molecular weight based amphiphiles, bolaamphiphiles or discotic amphiphiles provide supramolecular architectures. The supramolecular architectures include vesicles, toroids, tubes and other nanostructures. Meanwhile, direct or indirect involvement of a second component induces the co-assembly process of the amphiphiles. To find out an easy approach to control the nanostructures, researchers are inspired to expand multicomponent self-assembled systems. The bicomponent system is the simplest multicomponent systems to achieve controlled co-assembly. Over the last decade, several co-assembled systems were developed and studied thoroughly, which have been highlighted in this book.