Well-defined, persistent, chiral phthalocyanine nanoclusters via G-quadruplex assembly.

Octameric near-IR dye nanoclusters are produced by complexation of potassium cations with a phthalocyanine-guanosine conjugate. The combination of hydrogen-bonding, K(+) coordination, π-π stacking and steric interactions between the chiral side groups is responsible for defining a specific helical chromophore arrangement in the clusters, which display high stability and maintain their supramolecular identity onto substrates.