%0 Journal Article %T Non-Traditional Aromatic Topologies and Biomimetic Assembly Motifs as Components of Functional Pi-Conjugated Oligomers %A John D. Tovar %A Stephen R. Diegelmann %A Patricia A. Peart %J Materials %D 2010 %I MDPI AG %R 10.3390/ma3021269 %X This article will highlight our recent work using conjugated oligomers as precursors to electroactive polymer films and self-assembling nanomaterials. One area of investigation has focused on nonbenzenoid aromaticity in the context of charge delocalization in conjugated polymers. In these studies, polymerizable pi-conjugated units were coupled onto unusual aromatic cores such as methano[10]annulene. This article will also show how biologically-inspired assembly of molecularly well-defined oligopeptides that flank pi-conjugated oligomers has resulted in the aqueous construction of 1-dimensional nanomaterials that encourage electronic delocalization among the pi-electron systems. %K conjugated polymers %K self-assembly %K aromaticity %U http://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/3/2/1269