U-shaped building blocks: formation of discrete assemblies through molecular recognition

Within everyday life there are materials that are essential for our modern living which have been developed through understanding how different components of matter interact. These interactions between components of matter have different strengths depending on what the makeup of the matter is, which can be illustrated with the difference in the action of glue, where the weak interactions give sticky notes their ability to unstick and superglue having strong interactions grant it such ability to hold objects tightly together. Similarly, materials can be used to interact like this in specific ways. Weak interactions can be used to hold together chains or individual pieces of matter in the form of assemblies. Much like building blocks forming a house or other such toys that can be exchanged and interlocked, these assemblies can be formed from different sized or shaped pieces that can create predictable assembly shapes. Specifically, the use of U-shaped pieces has produced new knowledge of how these assemblies can be formed and the resulting materials formed can also pull other smaller pieces that usually do not interact. This unusual behavior shows up as the ability to sort these smaller pieces like if the material would grab a specific color preferentially (ex. A preference for blue over red or green.) In addition, another material forms twisted structures that may prove to be a blueprint into further creation of useful materials in lasers or other light controlling applications.