Crystal Hierarchical Supramolecular Architectures from 1-D Precursor Single-Crystal Seeds

Hierarchical architectures with highly ordered 3-D micro/nanosized hierarchical structures with promising applications in electronics and optoelectronics are highly desirable in current materials synthesis. In this paper, a fluorene-bridged intramolecular charge-transfer (ICT) compound (bis(4-(dimethylamino)phenyl)-fluoren-9-ylidene)malononitrile (DMPFM) has been synthesized and fabricated into 1-D microrods and 3-D microflowers in dioxane and THF, respectively. A stepwise growth method has been developed for constructing crystal micro/nanohierarchical superarchitectures by using the single-crystal 1-D microrods as precursor crystal seeds. The morphological controllability in both growth stages offers opportunities of rational tuning of the size, shapes, and dimensions of hierarchical self-assembled products. This stepwise growing method of hierarchical architectures and the exhibited semiconducting character of the material endows the superstructures with potential applications in the field of electronic devices.