Influence of functional groups on the self-assembly of liquid crystals

Functional groups in the molecule play an important role in the molecular o rganization process.To reveal the influence of functional groups on the self-assembly at interface,herein,the self-assembly structures of three liquid crystal molecules,which only differ in the functional groups,are explicitly characterized by using scanning tunneling microscopy(STM).The high-resolution STM images demonstrate the difference between the supramolecular assembly structures of three liquid crystal molecules,which attribute to the hydrogen bonding interaction and π-π stacking interaction between different functional groups.The density functional theory(DFT) results also confirm the influence of these functional groups on the self-assemblies.The effort on the self-assembly of liquid crystal molecules at interface could enhance the understanding of the supramolecular assembly mechanism and benefit the further application of liquid crystals.     

Recent progress in exploiting small molecule peptides as supramolecular hydrogelators

Small molecule peptides and their derivatives are an emerging class of supramolecular hydrogelators that have attracted rapidly growing interest in the fields of drug delivery and regenerative medicine due to their inherent biodegradability and biocompatibility, as well as versatility in molecular design and ease of synthesis. Built upon the directional, intermolecular interactions such as hydrogen bonding and π-π stacking, peptide-based molecular units can associate in aqueous solution into filamentous assemblies of various sizes and shapes. Under appropriate conditions, these filamentous assemblies can percolate into a 3D network with materials properties tailorable for specific biomedical applications. In this review, we survey the literature published over the past three years in the development of peptide-based hydrogelators for biomedical applications. We highlight several representative examples and center our discussion on the fundamentals of molecular design, assembly, and gelation conditions.     

Controlled Self-assembly of Thermo-responsive Amphiphilic H-shaped Polymer for Adjustable Drug Release

Despite the fact that some progress has been made in the self-assembly of H-shaped polymers,the corresponding self-assemblies that respond to external stimulus and are further utilized to adjust the release of drugs are still deficient.The stimuli-responsive segments with amphiphilic H-shaped structure are generally expected to enhance the controllability of self-assembly process.The synthesis and self-assembly behavior of thermo-responsive amphiphilic H-shaped polymers with poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG),polytetrahydrofuran (PTHF) and poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide) (PNIPAM) as building blocks are reported in this paper.The inner architecture structure and size of complex micelles formed by H-shaped self-assemblies were effectively adjusted when the solution temperature was increased above the lower critical solution temperature of PNIPAM segments.Furthermore,it was found that the architecture of self-assemblies underwent a transition from the complex micelles based on primary micelles with hybrid PEG/PNIPAM shells to large complex micelles based on primary micelles with hybrid PTHF/PNIPAM cores and PEG shells during the thermal-induced self-assembly process.The adjustable release rate of doxorubicin (DOX) from the DOX-loaded complex micelles and basic cell experiments further proved the feasibility of these self-assemblies as the thermal-responsive drug delivery system.     

The Physical Chemistry for the Self-assembly of Peptide Hydrogels

Peptide hydrogels have been widely used for diverse biomedical applications.However,our current understanding of the physical principles underlying the self-assembly process is still limited.In this review,we summarize our current understanding on the physical chemistry principles from the basic interactions that drive the self-assembly process to the energy landscapes that dictate the thermodynamics and kinetics of the process.We discuss the effect of different factors that affect the kinetics of the self-assembly ofpeptide fibrils and how this is related to the macroscopic gelation process.We provide our understanding on the molecular origin of the complex and rugged energy landscape for the self-assembly of peptide hydrogels.The hierarchical self-assembled structures and the diverse self-assembling mechanism make it difficult and challenging to rationally design the physical and chemical properties of peptide hydrogels at the molecular level.We also give our personal perspective to the potential future directions in this field.     

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.     

Macroscopic Supramolecular Assembly and Its Applications

Macroscopic supramolecular assembly (MSA) has been a recent progress in supramolecular chemistry.MSA mainly focuses on studies of the building blocks with a size beyond ten micrometers and the non-covalent interactions between these interactive building blocks to form ordered structures.MSA is essential to realize the concept of"self-assembly at all scales" by bridging most supramolecular researches at molecular level and at macroscopic scale.This review summaries the development of MSA,the basic design principle and related strategies to achieve MSA and potential applications.Correspondingly,we try to elucidate the correlations and differences between "macroscopic assembly" and MSA based on intermolecular interactions;the design principle and the underlying assembly mechanism of MSA are proposed to understand the reported MSA behaviors;to demonstrate further applications of MSA,we introduce some methods to improve the ordered degree of the assembled structures from the point of precise assembly and thus envision some possible fields for the use of MSA.     

Design and Synthesis of Chiral Molecular Tweezers Based on Deoxycholic Acid

Molecular tweezers is a novel type of artificial receptors, which not only offer the advantage of efficient construction but also their surfaces can be tailored for specific applications. The clefts of molecular tweezers are particularly effective in regard to complementarity with substrates since functional groups attached to the interior of the cleft converge on substrates held inside1. So, in recent years, the molecular tweezers receptors have attracted more and more attention in molecular …     

Programmable Assembly of DNA-protein Hybrid Structures

DNA is the genetic information carrier for most known living organisms on Earth,while proteins are the functional component that carry out most biological processes.Many natural machineries are DNA-protein hybrid complexes to cooperatively and efficiently conduct sophisticated biological tasks.It has drawn increasing interest to the research field to construct artificial DNA-protein hybrid structures towards a variety of applications including biological studies,nanofabrication,biomedical research,etc.In this regard,here in this report we reviewed the up-to-date progress on making DNA-protein hybrid structures,with a particular focus on DNA nanotechnology-enabled programmable assembly of DNA-protein hybrid structures.     

Chemical microenvironment mediated formation of organic nanostructures from self-assembly of melamine and barbituric acid derivatives

The recent progresses on constructing organic nanostructures from the self-assembly of melamine and barbituric acid derivatives are reviewed. By mediating the chemical microenviron-ment during the self-assembly, the information contained in the molecular components can be expressed at different levels, thus resulting in the formation of different organic nanostructures. When the assembly is carried out in anhydrous chloroform, a kind of asymmetric layered structure with a d value of 4.1 nm is obtained. When a little amount of polar solvent such as alcohol is contained in the chloroform, organic nanotubes with diameter of 6 nm and length of several hundreds of nanometers are observed. After being treated by appropriate polar solvents, the nanotubes are induced into supercoils with diameter of about 300 nm and length of several tens of microns. The sensitivity of the self-assembly process origins from the weak noncovalent intermolecular interactions between the molecular components. The enthalpy change of     

Recent advances in photofunctional polymorphs of molecular materials

Crystalline polymorph is an intriguing phenomenon that the presence of multiple packing and aggregate architectures of the same molecular system.In this review,we focus on the recent progress in various feasible methods of molecule-based crystalline polymorphism growth,their adjustable photofunctional properties and multifunctional applications,which will help to illustrate the structure-property relationship.     

Cross‐Regulation of an Artificial Metalloenzyme

Cross‐regulation of complex biochemical reaction networks is an essential feature of living systems. In a biomimetic spirit, we report on our efforts to program the temporal activation of an artificial metalloenzyme via cross‐regulation by a natural enzyme. In the presence of urea, urease slowly releases ammonia that reversibly inhibits an artificial transfer hydrogenase. Addition of an acid, which acts as fuel, allows to maintain the system out of equilibrium.     

Common model of evolution for living cell and central nervous system.

Both living cell and central nervous system can be treated as objects similar to artificial neural networks, actively studied now. One can see deep analogies between evolutionary processes in these systems, and correspondences can be established between some phenomena and objects. These are: genome vs. memory, gene vs. symbol, cell type vs. image, mitosis vs. sleep, organism vs. perception state, species vs. language, fertilization vs. attention, meiosis vs. paradoxal sleep. There is reason to study these correspondences on more technical level being based upon network nature of the living cell and nervous system.     

Mussel-inspired encapsulation and functionalization of individual yeast cells

The individual encapsulation of living cells has a great impact on the area of cell-based sensors and devices as well as fundamental studies in cell biology. In this work, living yeast cells were individually encapsulated with functionalizable, artificial polydopamine shells, inspired by an adhesive protein in mussels. Yeast cells maintained their viability within polydopamine, and the cell cycle was controlled by the thickness of the shells. In addition, the artificial shells aided the cell in offering much stronger resistance against foreign aggression, such as lyticase. After formation of the polydopamine shells, the shells were functionalized with streptavidin by utilizing the chemical reactivity of polydopamine, and the functionalized cells were biospecifically immobilized onto the defined surfaces. Our work suggests a biomimetic approach to the encapsulation and functionalization of individual living cells with covalently bonded, artificial shells.     

A Molecular Cable Car for Transmembrane Ion Transport

The controlled transport of molecular and ionic substrates across bilayer membranes is a fundamental task for the operation of living organisms. It is also a highly fascinating and demanding challenge for artificial molecular machines. The recent report of a synthetic transmembrane molecular shuttle that can transport potassium ions selectively down a gradient in a liposomal system makes a small but significant step towards this goal.     

Orchestrating the Biosynthesis of an Unnatural Pyrrolysine Amino Acid for Its Direct Incorporation into Proteins Inside Living Cells

We here report the construction of an E. coli expression system able to manufacture an unnatural amino acid by artificial biosynthesis. This can be orchestrated with incorporation into protein by amber stop codon suppression inside a living cell. In our case an alkyne‐bearing pyrrolysine amino acid was biosynthesized and incorporated site‐specifically allowing orthogonal double protein labeling.     

立体选择活性自由基聚合进展

尽管人工大分子的合成已经取得了长足发展,特别是在多种活性自由基聚合技术出现后,合成大分子的分子量和拓扑结构得到了良好控制,但如果以结构精确、高度功能化的生物大分子为模型来看,就会发现人工大分子的完全裁制合成仍是一个重大挑战。本文首先简述了合成大分子与生物大分子的结构差异,以及合成大分子在活性聚合领域和立体选择聚合领域各自已经取得的进展,在此基础上,专门介绍了近年来同时对合成大分子的分子量、立体结构和区域规整性进行控制的尝试,特别是在立体选择活性自由基聚合领域的进展。     

Synthetic Biology—The Synthesis of Biology

Synthetic biology concerns the engineering of man-made living biomachines from standardized components that can perform predefined functions in a (self-)controlled manner. Different research strategies and interdisciplinary efforts are pursued to implement engineering principles to biology. The “top-down” strategy exploits nature's incredible diversity of existing, natural parts to construct synthetic compositions of genetic, metabolic, or signaling networks with predictable and controllable properties. This mainly application-driven approach results in living factories that produce drugs, biofuels, biomaterials, and fine chemicals, and results in living pills that are based on engineered cells with the capacity to autonomously detect and treat disease states in vivo. In contrast, the “bottom-up” strategy seeks to be independent of existing living systems by designing biological systems from scratch and synthesizing artificial biological entities not found in nature. This more knowledge-driven approach investigates the reconstruction of minimal biological systems that are capable of performing basic biological phenomena, such as self-organization, self-replication, and self-sustainability. Moreover, the syntheses of artificial biological units, such as synthetic nucleotides or amino acids, and their implementation into polymers inside living cells currently set the boundaries between natural and artificial biological systems. In particular, the in vitro design, synthesis, and transfer of complete genomes into host cells point to the future of synthetic biology: the creation of designer cells with tailored desirable properties for biomedicine and biotechnology.     

Synthetic mimics of mammalian cell surface receptors: prosthetic molecules that augment living cells

Specific receptors on the surface of mammalian cells actively internalize cell-impermeable ligands by receptor-mediated endocytosis. To mimic these internalizing receptors, my laboratory is studying artificial cell surface receptors that comprise N-alkyl derivatives of 3beta-cholesterylamine linked to motifs that bind cell-impermeable ligands. When added to living mammalian cells, these synthetic receptors insert into cellular plasma membranes, project ligand-binding small molecules or peptides from the cell surface, and enable living cells to internalize targeted proteins and other cell-impermeable compounds. These artificial receptors mimic their natural counterparts by rapidly cycling between plasma membranes and intracellular endosomes, associating with proposed cholesterol and sphingolipid-rich lipid raft membrane microdomains, and delivering ligands to late endosomes/lysosomes. This "synthetic receptor targeting" strategy is briefly reviewed here and contrasted with other related cellular delivery systems. Potential applications of artificial cell surface receptors as molecular probes, agents for cellular targeting, tools for drug delivery, and methods for ligand depletion are discussed. The construction of synthetic receptors as prosthetic molecules, designed to seamlessly augment the molecular machinery of living cells, represents an exciting new frontier in the fields of bioorganic chemistry and chemical biology.     

Droplet microfluidics for the study of artificial cells

In this review, we describe recent advances in droplet-based microfluidics technology that can be applied in studies of artificial cells. Artificial cells are simplified models of living cells and provide valuable model platforms designed to reveal the functions of biological systems. The study of artificial cells is promoted by microfluidics technologies, which provide control over tiny volumes of solutions during quantitative chemical experiments and other manipulations. Here, we focus on current and future trends in droplet microfluidics and their applications in studies of artificial cells.