刚棒-线团分子的自组装研究进展

超分子化学领域的自组装研究是近年来研究的热点,对这种由一种或多种结构单元自发聚集而成具有一定尺寸和结构的过程研究已经取得了重大进展。以亲水基团和亲脂基团为主要构成单元的两亲性分子在自组装领域中的表现优异于其他分子,其亲水的刚性棒状基团和疏水的柔性线团基团通过不同方法共同构成了各种类型的刚柔两亲性分子,而在水溶液中自组装而成不同结构与性能的聚集体又与两亲性分子的结构密切相关。目前,已报道的调控超分子自组装的方法大致可以分为两类,即外部刺激法和自身修复法,本文亦从这两个方面总结了近年来刚棒-线团分子自组装的研究进展。     

超分子凝胶在催化有机反应中的应用

超分子凝胶是有机小分子通过分子间非共价作用形成的使溶剂固定的三维网络结构胶体。 综述关注了近年来超分子凝胶在催化有机反应中一个新的应用方向,依据凝胶剂结构特征和催化反应的类型对迄今报道的小分子凝胶催化剂进行了深入的总结与归类,揭示凝胶催化的独特性,并对其存在的问题和发展趋势进行了讨论。     

Self-assembly driven by an aromatic primary amide motif

Primary amides are unique supramolecular synthons possessing two hydrogen donors and two hydrogen acceptors. By interacting in a complementary fashion, primary amides reliably generate two-dimensional hydrogen bonded networks that differ from conventional hydrogen bonded structures such as carboxylic acid dimers or one-dimensional secondary amide chains. This feature permits the design of sophisticated supramolecular assemblies based on primary amides (especially aromatic amides). Several interesting crystal structures have been constructed utilizing primary amides, although such structures have been applied only in the field of crystal engineering because the networks strongly favor crystallization. Expansion of the applications of primary amides to liquid crystals and self-assembly in solution requires an appropriate balance between primary amide-based hydrogen bonding and other noncovalent interactions. This perspective article reviews the key hydrogen bonding properties of primary amides determined from crystal structure studies, and a variety of supramolecular assemblies involving primary amides are discussed. A new strategy for overcoming crystallinity and solubility issues is proposed, involving introduction of a trifluoromethyl group at the ortho position of the aromatic primary amide. Such substitutions produce highly processable primary amides, while maintaining the two-dimensional hydrogen bonded network. Examples of self-assembly using 2-trifluoromethylbenzamide demonstrate its usefulness in self-assembly.     

Physics and engineering of peptide supramolecular nanostructures

The emerging "bottom-up" nanotechnology reveals a new field of bioinspired nanomaterials composed of chemically synthesized biomolecules. They are formed from elementary constituents in supramolecular structures by the use of a developed nature self-assembly mechanism. The focus of this perspective paper is on intrinsic fundamental physical properties of bioinspired peptide nanostructures and their small building units linked by weak noncovalent bonds. The observed exceptional optical properties indicate a phenomenon of quantum confinement in these supramolecular structures, which originates from nanoscale size of their elementary building blocks. The dimensionality of the confinement gives insight into intrinsic packing of peptide supramolecular nanomaterials. QC regions, revealed in bioinspired nanostructures, were found by us in amyloid fibrils formed from insulin protein. We describe ferroelectric and related properties found at the nanoscale based on original crystalline asymmetry of the nanoscale building blocks, packing these structures. In this context, we reveal a classic solid state physics phenomenon such as reconstructive phase transition observed in bioorganic peptide nanotubes. This irreversible phase transformation leads to drastic reshaping of their quantum structure from quantum dots to quantum wells, which is followed by variation of their space group symmetry from asymmetric to symmetric. We show that the supramolecular origin of these bioinspired nanomaterials provides them a unique chance to be disassembled into elementary building block peptide nanodots of 1-2 nm size possessing unique electronic, optical and ferroelectric properties. These multifunctional nanounits could lead to a new future step in nanotechnology and nanoscale advanced devices in the fields of nanophotonics, nanobiomedicine, nanobiopiezotronics, etc.     

稀土超分子配合物研究进展

超分子化学作为"广义上的配位化学",是一个充满活力的领域.基于配位自组装,设计合成具有不同拓扑结构和功能特性的超分子配合物是超分子化学的研究重点.基于稀土元素构筑的超分子配合物不仅丰富了配位超分子体系,也是制备功能性配合物的核心内容.主要从拓扑结构调控、结构修饰和功能特性等方面综述了螺旋、格子、环状和笼状等稀土超分子配...     

Supramolecular architectures generated by self-assembly of guanosine derivatives

Nature's use of a simple genetic code to enable life's complex functions is an inspiration for supramolecular chemistry. DNA nucleobases carry the key information utilizing a variety of cooperative and non-covalent interactions such as hydrophobic, van der Waals, pi-pi stacking, ion-dipole and hydrogen bonding. This tutorial review describes some recent advances in the form and function provided by self-assembly of guanine (G) based systems. We attempt to make connections between the structures of the assemblies and their properties. The review begins with a brief historical context of G self-assembly in water and then describes studies on lipophilic guanosine analogs in organic solvents. The article also focuses on examples of how G analogs have been used as building blocks for functional applications in supramolecular chemistry, material science and nanotechnology.     

Main group supramolecular chemistry

Metal directed self-assembly has yielded a wide array of two- and three-dimensional structures with fascinating new chemical properties. These structures have typically been prepared utilizing transition metals as directing units, owing to the well-defined coordination preferences these metals exhibit. An area of growing research interest involves the preparation of structures containing main group elements as directing units. This tutorial review surveys the wide range of structure types available through this approach, specifically covering unique structure types accessible from the unusual coordination geometries often exhibited by the elements in Groups 12-17 of the periodic table. This review should be of interest to supramolecular and main group chemists, and researchers in the fields of crystal engineering, host-guest chemistry, and molecular recognition.     

Diverse Role of Solvents in Controlling Supramolecular Chirality

Supramolecular self-assembly stands for the spontaneous aggregation of small organic compounds or polymers into ordered structures at any scale. When being induced by inherent molecular chiral centers or ambient asymmetric factors, asymmetric spatial arrangement between building units shall occur, which is defined as supramolecular chirality. Except for molecular design, utilizing external stimulus factors to tune supramolecular chirality is a promising approach. In this Concept article, we particularly discuss the important role of solvents in manipulating the chirality of self-assembled systems. The impact of solvents on the chirality is generally based on three properties of solvents, i.e., chirality, polarity, and active coassembly with building blocks. Molecular self-assembly in chiral solvents could undergo the chirality transfer, exhibiting a chiral induction effect. Solvent polarity often determines intermolecular orientation. As a consequence, those building blocks with both polar and apolar segments might change their chirality depending on the solvent polarity. We elaborate the active participation of solvent molecules into ordered structures together with building blocks, where solvents and building blocks exhibit a coassembly manner. By specific treatments such as heating and cooling, solvents could be released or re-entrapped, allowing a smart control over supramolecular chirality. The solvent effect in manipulating two-dimensional chiral self-assemblies is then discussed. The perspective and future development in this research field are presented at last.     

Transient DNA-Based Nanostructures Controlled by Redox Inputs

Synthetic DNA has emerged as a powerful self-assembled material for the engineering of nanoscale supramolecular devices and materials. Recently dissipative self-assembly of DNA-based supramolecular structures has emerged as a novel approach providing access to a new class of kinetically controlled DNA materials with unprecedented life-like properties. So far, dissipative control has been achieved using DNA-recognizing enzymes as energy dissipating units. Although highly efficient, enzymes pose limits in terms of long-term stability and inhibition of enzyme activity by waste products. Herein, we provide the first example of kinetically controlled DNA nanostructures in which energy dissipation is achieved through a non-enzymatic chemical reaction. More specifically, inspired by redox signalling, we employ redox cycles of disulfide-bond formation/breakage to kinetically control the assembly and disassembly of tubular DNA nanostructures in a highly controllable and reversible fashion.     

Programming supramolecular peptide materials by modulating the intermediate steps in the complex assembly pathway: Implications for biomedical applications

Self-assembling peptides form a prominent class of supramolecular materials with in general good biocompatibility. To afford better control over the material properties, tremendous progress has been made in studying the supramolecular organization of the peptide assemblies. This knowledge has helped us to understand the correlation between the molecular structure of the peptide building blocks and the properties of the supramolecular products. However, peptide self-assembly consists of a complex pathway rather than a spontaneous thermodynamic process. This implies that the outcome of the self-assembly is critically governed by the assembly pathway. Here, we are going to discuss how peptide self-assembly can be modulated at the intermediate steps in the self-assembly pathway. The focus will be to demonstrate this engineering approach on the example of zero-dimensional/one-dimensional nanostructure selectivity over the β-sheet assembly pathway. In addition, we provide examples of biomedical applications of such steered peptide assemblies in the field of drug delivery and tissue engineering.     

Isolated supramolecules on surfaces studied with scanning tunneling microscopy

To date, supramolecular chemistry is an ever growing research field owing to its crucial role in molecular catalysis, recognition, medicine, data storage and processing as well as artificial photosynthetic devices.Different isolated supramolecules were prepared by molecular self-assembly on surfaces. This review mainly focuses on supramolecular aggregations on noble metal surfaces studied by scanning tunneling microscopy, including dimers, trimers, tetramers, pentamers, wire-like assemblies and Sierpin′ ski triangular fractals. The variety of self-assembled structures reflects the subtle balance between intermolecular and molecule–substrate interactions, which to some extent may be controlled by molecules, substrates and the molecular coverage. The comparative study of different architectures helps identifying the operative mechanisms that lead to the structural motifs. The application of these mechanisms may lead to novel assemblies with tailored physicochemical properties.     

The gas–liquid tunable self-assembly properties of rod–coil diblock copolymer: donor–acceptor alternating structure served as rod segment

The rod–coil diblock copolymers in which the donor–acceptor alternating structures served as the rod segment were synthesized. The supramolecular self-assembly property of the copolymers was investigated in the methanol atmosphere. By changing the assembly condition, well-defined vesicles and porous films were produced, respectively. Pores with different size dispersions were obtained by tuning the methanol atmosphere. Moreover, porous films were also decorated on diverse substrates with nonplanar structures. The investigation on self-assembly properties of this rod–coil copolymer is the complementarity to the self-assembly of rod–coil copolymers. This is a very useful self-assembly method that can be used to prepare the self-assembly nanostructures with donor–acceptor alternating copolymers.     

Hybrid Soft Nanomaterials Composed of DNA Microspheres and Supramolecular Nanostructures of Semi-artificial Glycopeptides

Aqueous hybrid soft nanomaterials consisting of plural supramolecular architectures with a high degree of segregation (orthogonal coexistence) and precise hierarchy at the nano- and microscales, which are reminiscent of complex biomolecular systems, have attracted increasing attention. Remarkable progress has been witnessed in the construction of DNA nanostructures obtained by rational sequence design and supramolecular nanostructures of peptide derivatives through self-assembly under aqueous conditions. However, orthogonal self-assembly of DNA nanostructures and supramolecular nanostructures of peptide derivatives in a single medium has not yet been explored in detail. In this study, DNA microspheres, which can be obtained from three single-stranded DNAs, and three different supramolecular nanostructures (helical nanofibers, straight nanoribbons, and flowerlike microaggregates) of semi-artificial glycopeptides were simultaneously constructed in a single medium by a simple thermal annealing process, which gives rise to hybrid soft nanomaterials. Fluorescence imaging with selective staining of each supramolecular nanostructure uncovered the orthogonal coexistence of these structures with only marginal impact on their morphology. Additionally, the biostimuli-responsive degradation propensity of each supramolecular architecture is retained, and this may allow the construction of active soft nanomaterials exhibiting intelligent biofunctions.     

Combining magnetic field induced locomotion and supramolecular interaction to micromanipulate glass fibers: toward assembly of complex structures at mesoscale

The formation of ordered complex structures is one of the most challenging fields in the research of biomimic materials because those structures are promising with respect to improving the physical and mechanical properties of man-made materials. In this letter, we have developed a novel approach to fabricating complex structures on the mesoscale by combining magnetic-field-induced locomotion and supramolecular-interaction-assisted immobilization. We have employed a magnetic field to locomote the glass fiber, which was modified by the layer-by-layer self-assembly of magnetic nanoparticles, to desired positions and have exploited the supramolecular interaction to immobilize glass fiber onto the appointed position. By magnetically induced micromanipulation, we can drive another fiber across the former one and finally obtain a crossing structure, which can lead to more complex structures on the mesocale. Moreover, we have constructed a mesoscale structure, termed "CHEM", to demonstrate further the application of this method.     

Colloidal Quantum Dot Arrangement Assisted by Perylene Bisimide Self-Assembly

Colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals, so-called quantum dots (QDs), are attractive as molecular-like smart nanomaterials, and their emission and optoelectronic properties in the dispersed state have been actively studied. The construction of supramolecular structures composed of multiple QDs, however, is still challenging. Here, a new strategy to form supramolecular QD structures via self-assembly of perylene bisimide (PBI) dyes is demonstrated. In a mixed solution, QDs and PBI undergo time-dependent fusion to form an isolated colloidal QD-PBI complex or a unique QD-PBI co-aggregate composed of QDs arranged along a sheet-like PBI nanostructure, and these dramatically different supramolecular structures can be controlled by the solvent polarity.     

Multidentate,V-Shaped Pyridine Building Blocks as Tectons for Crystal Engineering

The formation of supramolecular structural units through self-assembly is a powerful method to design new architectures and materials endowed with specific properties. With the aim of adding a group of versatile tectons to the toolkit of crystal engineers, we have devised and synthesised four new V-shaped building blocks characterised by an aryl acetylene scaffold comprising three substituted pyridine rings connected by two triple bonds. The judicious choice of different substituents on the pyridine rings provides these tectons with distinctive steric, electrostatic and self-assembly properties, which influence their crystal structures and their ability to form co-crystals. Co-crystals of the tectons with tetraiododifluorobenzene were obtained both via traditional and mechanochemical crystallisation strategies, proving their potential use in crystal engineering. The energetic contributions of the supramolecular interactions at play in the crystal lattice have also been evaluated to better understand their nature and strength and to rationalise their role in designing molecular crystals.     

DNA折纸术研究进展

DNA折纸术是近年来提出的一种全新的DNA自组装的方法,是DNA纳米技术与DNA自组装领域的一个重大进展。与传统的DNA自组装技术不同,DNA折纸术通过将一条长的DNA单链（通常为基因组DNA）与一系列经过设计的短DNA片段进行碱基互补,能够可控地构造出高度复杂的纳米图案或结构,在新兴的纳米领域中具有广泛的潜在应用。本文在介绍DNA折纸术相关原理的基础上,就DNA折纸术的起源、发展及其在DNA芯片、纳米元件与材料等领域的潜在应用进行了概述,探讨了DNA折纸术未来可能的发展方向。     

基于柱芳烃主客体作用构筑的超分子纳米载体

近年来,基于主客体相互作用的超分子纳米载体因其独特的自组装特性在癌症治疗领域引起了广泛的关注。柱芳烃作为一种新型的大环分子,因其独特的化学结构和优越的主客体包合能力而成为近年来研究的热点。本文根据不同的治疗机制综述了柱状链纳米载体及其在化疗、光动力治疗、联合治疗等领域的应用。在此基础上,展望了柱芳烃基纳米载体的研究方向和发展趋势。     

Supramolecular colloidal motors via chemical self-assembly

A colloidal motor can convert energy stored in the environment to achieve mechanical motion and exhibit dynamic behaviors in fluids. To overcome the challenges presented to a colloidal motor, controlled molecular self-assembly technology provides new opportunities for the precise fabrication of various nanoarchitectures and facilitates fundamental research on rational design, multifunctionalization, propulsion, and controlled movement of colloidal motors. These molecular assembled colloidal motors, also called supramolecular colloidal motors, can perform special tasks at the micro- and nanoscale in the fields of biomedicine, nanotechnology, and environmental remediation. In this feature article, we first introduce the recent progress of controllable self-assembly of spatially asymmetric supramolecular colloidal motors with variable sizes, structures, and functions and discuss the relationship between structure and propulsion. Next, we review the research progress of this type of colloidal motors in biomedical and environmental fields. Finally, we propose the challenges of the supramolecular colloidal motors and future development direction.     

具有纳米孔洞的金属-有机超分子聚合物与功能材料

本文介绍了近几年来一个热门的研究领域－纳米超分子笼和具有纳米孔洞的金属－有机聚合物的研究现状和发展趋势。目前该领域的研究主要集中在：设计合成有机桥联配体并与金属离子自组装成各类具有纳米孔洞的超分子化合物和一维、二维或三维的金属－有机聚合物,应用结构化学研究手段,研究它们的自组装规律、空间结构、电子结构及其物理化学性能,寻找这两类化合物在生物工程与功能材料等领域中的应用。