Constructing hieratical structures across different length scales is central to the design of novel materials with controlled and predicted macroscopic properties. We have introduced a new class of self-assembling hybrid materials, which are built upon shape- and volume-persistent molecular nanoparticles (MNPs) and other structural motifs such as polymers, dendramers, and can be viewed as a size-amplified version of the corresponding small-molecule counterparts: “nano-atoms”. Giant molecules are constructed by these “nano-atoms”. Among the different categories of giant molecules, “giant surfactants” with precise molecular structures have been designed and
synthesized via “clicking” compact and polar MNPs with polymer tails of various composition and
topological architecture at specific sites.
