Peptide Backbone Directed Self‐Assembly of Merocyanine Oligomers into Duplex Structures

The pseudopeptide backbone provided by N-(2-aminoethyl)-glycine oligomers with attached nucleobases has been widely utilized in peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) as DNA mimics. Here we demonstrate the suitability of this for formation structurally defined dye stacks. Toward goal a series merocyanine (PMC) connected to were prepared through synthesis. Our concentration-, temperature- and solvent-dependent UV/Vis absorption studies show that under control dipole–dipole interactions, smaller-sized consisting one, two or three dyes self-assemble into duplex structures containing up six chromophores. In contrast, upon further extension oligomer, chosen cannot direct architecture anymore due intramolecular aggregation between dyes. For all aggregate species moderate aggregation-induced emission enhancement is observed.