Self-sorting in mixed fluorinated/hydrogenated assemblies

Mixtures of fluorinated and hydrogenated compounds display peculiar properties arising from their mutual phobicity and the same applies to semifluorinated species in which a reciprocal phobicity pattern exists within the same molecule. The interest in assemblies comprising these species stems from the ease in which self-sorting can take place, allowing the preparation of compartmentalised molecular aggregates with unique hydrophobic patterns or surface features. Most importantly, this is the result of molecular properties rather than specifically designed fabrication techniques. This brief overview describes some examples that are instrumental to present the features of fluorinated/hydrogenated supramolecular assemblies in which self-sorting of the dislike units takes place at different length scales. This review is focussed on flat assemblies such as self-assembled monolayers on gold surfaces, Langmuir Blodgett films and on three dimensional assemblies such as micelles, vesicles and nanoparticles.