A Robust Strategy for Precise Fabrication of Rigid-Flexible Coupling Dendrimers toward Self-Coordinated Hierarchical Assembly

Advances in nanotechnology depend upon expanding the ability to create biologically inspired complex materials with well-defined multidimensional structures.Fabrication of hybrid hierarchical structures by combining colloidal organic and inorganic building blocks remains a challenge due to the difficulty in preparing a diverse spectrum of rigid-flexible coupling units of precise shape and size.Herewe reportageneral strategy for crafting amyriad of uniform aggregates via manipulating self-assembly of distinct dendimers with precisely controlled polyhed raloligomeric silse squioxane(POSS)-embedded cores integrating stiffness and ductility.The rigidity of POSS units exerts steric effects onself-amplification of hydrophobic do mains while the flexibility from internally ductile linkages provides ideal scenarios in establishing self-adaptive structural optimization,which subsequently drive the assemblies to proceed into hierarchical self-assembly via multiple coordination effects,generating highly complex multi compartment micelles(MCMs)without any preprocessing.Our facile approach enables a robust modular nanofabrication of well-organized dendrimers toward artificial functional systems with defined geometric architectures and intriguing functions for advanced biological applications.