| Systems chemistry, the concept of creating complex and emergent phenomena, similar to behavior present in the biological sciences, utilizing a chemical framework, is the next frontier for chemists. Towards this goal, creating compounds which are designed to, not only interact with themselves, but also with other compounds, has become a formidable challenge. For the past half century, scientists have leveraged supramolecular chemistry as a means of moving away from the covalent bond, and have started foraying in the complex world of noncovalent bonding interactions. Donor-acceptor recognition motifs have been employed to bring together two distinctly different building blocks, one of the most widely explored to date being methyl viologen. As complexity evolves, so do the molecules themselves. A ubiquitous and inexpensive industrial pigment, perylene dianhydride has been modified synthetically into a viologen-like molecule---namely, the diazaperopyrenium dication. In this thesis, the exploration of this relatively unknown class of compounds is explored holistically, starting with the tracing of the evolution of perylene derivatives in Chapter 1, which covers their origins and current research initiatives using perylene diimides and their derivatives. Chapter 2 focuses on the ability of this class of compounds to engage in homophilic as well as heterophilic recognition. This chameleonic property has been harnessed to synthesize mechanically interlocked molecules (MIMs), while Chapter 3 explores the dication's applicability, such as its ability to transport hydrophobic compounds like cucurbit[8]uril into aqueous solutions. Chapter 4 is devoted to the diazaperopyrenium dication's ability to exfoliate graphite directly to graphene in water in order that this composite material can be integrated into a device setting. |
