Self-assembled helical nanostructures from an asymmetrical perylene diimide

An asymmetrical perylene diimide 3, N-(4-methoxyphenyl)-N′-(4-nitrophenyl)-perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic diimide, was synthesized, and its self-assembly and dissociation behaviors in chloroform was studied in detail by UV–vis and fluorescence spectroscopies. The resulting unique helical nanostructures from 3 were proposed to be self-assembled via the cooperative actions of π–π stacking, steric hindrance and electrophile–nucleophile type pairing.