Dosimetric gelator probes and their application as sensors

Supramolecular gels formed by the self-assembly of organic molecules are useful in many areas from materials to medicine. Of the different applications, exploitation of gels for the visual detection of analytes is a fairly recent trend in gel chemistry. Most of the gel-based sensors rely on non-covalent interactions between the gelator molecules and the added chemical analytes and therefore, often suffer from less selectivity and long response time. In this context, dosimetric gelator probes are superior to other gel-based sensors with high selectivity and fast response time. Unlike non-covalent binding sites, dosimetric gelators typically contain a reaction centre and undergo a specific chemical reaction selective to an analyte resulting in either formation or rupturing of covalent bonds. In this review, we provide an up-to-date report of various reaction-based gel systems applied for the sensing of analytes. We elaborately discuss the concept, design principles, self-assembly properties, and reaction mechanisms of such gelators. We also highlight the limitations, challenges, and the necessity of further exploration of dosimetric gels in this domain.     

基于豆甾醇衍生物的超分子凝胶的合成与性能

设计合成出两种含有不同结构单元的新型豆甾醇衍生物凝胶因子（化合物1和2）。通过扫描电子显微镜（SEM）、傅里叶变换红外光谱（FT-IR）和紫外-可见光谱（UV-Vis）等技术手段对形成凝胶的结构和性能进行研究。结果表明,两种凝胶因子可分别在二甲基亚砜及甲醇溶剂中形成稳定的凝胶。其中化合物1还可在二甲基亚砜/水混合溶液体积比分别为9∶1、8∶2和7∶3中形成稳定的凝胶。当化合物1和2在DMSO溶剂中以质量浓度均为12 mg/mL形成凝胶时,二者的凝胶-溶胶相转变温度（T_gel）分别为51和46 ℃,表明随着凝胶因子中甾体结构单元的增加,其形成凝胶的热稳定性显著下降。在此基础上,以化合物1制备的凝胶为载体,通过紫外-可见光谱对罗丹明B、亚甲基蓝和阿霉素的包封与释放应用进行了研究。结果表明,制备的凝胶可以作为药物载体,并在240 min时在水中达到的最大释放值为84％。本文为豆甾醇衍生物凝胶的制备,及将其作为药物载体在药物输送领域的应用提供了有益的思路。     

Self-assembly in magnetic supramolecular hydrogels

Most recent advances in the synthesis of supramolecular hydrogels based on low molecular weight gelators (LMWGs) have focused on the development of novel hybrid hydrogels, combining LMWGs and different additives. The dynamic nature of the noncovalent interactions of supramolecular hydrogels, together with the specific properties of the additives included in the formulation, allow these novel hybrid hydrogels to present interesting features, such as stimuli-responsiveness, gel-sol reversibility, self-healing and thixotropy, which make them very appealing for multiple biomedical and biotechnological applications. In particular, the inclusion of magnetic nanoparticles in the hydrogel matrix results in magnetic hydrogels, a particular type of stimuli-responsive materials that respond to applied magnetic fields. This review focuses on the recent advances in the development of magnetic supramolecular hydrogels, with special emphasis in the role of the magnetic nanoparticles in the self-assembly process, as well as in the exciting applications of these materials.     

Supramolecular optical sensor arrays for on-site analytical devices

Supramolecular optical chemosensors are useful tools in analytical chemistry for the visualization of molecular recognition information. One advantage is that they can be utilized for array systems to detect multiple analytes. However, chemosensor arrays have been evaluated mainly in the solution phase, which limits a wide range of practical applications. Thus, appropriate solid support materials such as polymer gels and papers are required to broaden the scope of the application of chemosensors as on-site analytical tools. In this review, we summarize the actual approaches for the fabrication of solid-state chemosensor arrays combined with powerful data processing techniques and portable digital recorders for real-world applications.     

Flexible carbon membrane supercapacitor based on γ-cyclodextrin-MOF

Supercapacitors (SCs) with high energy density and power density are a research hotspot. Herein, we report a flexible porous carbon membrane supercapacitor prepared by electrospinning polyacrylonitrile (PAN) with γ-cyclodextrin-MOF (γ-CD-MOF) and then carbonizing at 900 °C. BET results showed that the supercapacitor retained the skeleton of γ-CD, γ-CD-MOF and the pores formed by the spun-fibers, which were 0.73, 1.09 and 23–186 nm, respectively, showing a high specific surface area of 134.7 m²/g. The hierarchically porous structures ensure rapid charge transfer and ion diffusion, resulting in the PAN/γ-CD-MOF carbon electrode with a high capacity of 283.3 F/g. Moreover, the supercapacitor had a high energy density up to 17.5 Wh/kg and power density up to 6 kW/kg. Significantly, it showed excellent cycle stability with a capacitance retention of 97.5% after 6000 cycles. This work provides a supramolecular strategy to construct a flexible porous carbon membrane, which has potential for supercapacitor applications.     

超分子作用构筑具有高光学不对称性的表面等离子纳米粒子手性组装体

《Science》杂志最近刊发了吉林大学刘堃团队关于手性纳米材料研究的重要进展: 通过超分子作用诱导金纳米棒与人胰岛淀粉样多肽之间共组装, 构筑具有类似于手性液晶结构的纳米螺旋超结构. 与单独的金纳米棒相比, 长程有序的纳米螺旋结构的手性各向异性因子(g-factor)提高了4600倍, 高达0.12. 该工作在液晶与手性无机纳米结构间建立了联系, 为构筑有机-无机光学活性结构提供了统一的设计原则, 并为淀粉样类疾病药物在复杂生物介质中的筛选开发了新方法.     

不同取代位置的萘衍生两亲分子在气/液界面组装膜中的螺旋结构与圆偏振发光

Langmuir-Blodgett(LB)技术可在二维气/液界面上精确地控制分子之间的排列及堆积方式, 构建有序超薄膜及纳米组装体. 同时, 界面这一不对称环境也可有效放大组装体的手性信息, 实现超分子体系中的手性传递和手性放大. 本文研究了萘环取代位置不同的两种手性两亲分子——N,N′-双十八烷基-α-萘-L-氨基-谷氨酸二酰胺(1NLG)和N,N′-双十八烷基-β-萘-L-氨基-谷氨酸二酰胺(2NLG)在气/液界面的铺展及组装行为, 发现同分异构效应影响了两亲分子在界面的排列, 1NLG组装形成了均一的纳米带状结构, 而2NLG则形成了左手螺旋结构, 并且2NLG薄膜表现出圆偏振发光(CPL)性质, 其不对称因子(g_lum)比三维体相组装体(超分子凝胶)大23倍, 表明界面促进了超分子手性的放大.     

CO2 and photo-controlled reversible conversion of supramolecular assemblies based on water soluble pillar[5]arene and coumarin-containing guest

In this communication,a new supramolecualr amphiphile was successfully constructed based on water soluble pillar[5]arene and a unique guest which contain a CO₂ responsive tertiary amine unit and a UV responsive coumarin group.When guest molecule 1 dispersed in water,it self-assembled into sheet-like structures.Upon bubbling CO₂,1 transformed into 1 H due to the tertiary amine unit was protonated,accompany the nano-sheets transformed into vesicles.Further irradiation of 1 H with 365 nm light for 3 h,the coumarin group reacted with each other to form bola-type amphiphie 2 H.In this case,vesicles collapsed and re-assembled into nano-tubes.However,when addition of WPS into the solution of 1 H,the vesicles transformed into micelles,this is due to the formation of supramolecular amphiphile WP5&1 H.Upon irradiation of WP5&1 H with 365 nm light for 3 h,nano-ribbons observed instead of micelles in the solution.Notably,nanotubes from 2 H could also transform into nano-ribbons after adding WPS.The selfassembly process and the resultant assemblies were characterized by TEM,SEM,DLS,SAXS and NMR technologies.Due to both CO₂ and light are "green" for living organisms,we anticipated our system can offer the possibilities in "on demand" drug absorption and release.     

Selective adsorption behaviors of guest molecules COR in the hexamer host networks at liquid/solid interface

Here,the selective adsorption behaviors of guest molecule COR in two hexamer host grids were investigated by means of scanning tunnelling microscope(STM).The assembled structures of small functional organic molecules TTBTA and TATBA were thermodynamically stable.Interestingly,the introduction of the guest molecule COR destroyed the original hexamer structure of TTBTA and combined with it to form a new triangular host-guest system.Different from TTBTA,the introduction of the guest molecule COR did not affect the six-membered ring structure of TATBA.Furthermore,the co-assembly structure of TTBTA/TATBA/COR was established and the guest molecule COR showed preferential adsorption to the TATBA host grid.Density functional theory(DFT) calculations had been performed to disclose the mechanism of the involved assemblies.     

An interlocked coordination cage based on aromatic amide ligands

An interlocked M_4 L_8 coordination cage was synthesized by coordination-driven self-assembly of palladium(Ⅱ) ions with aromatic amide bidentate ligands.The reaction of the ligand and the metal at 2:1 ratio led to the monomeric M_2 L_4 cage as the kinetic product,while the thermodynamic product M_4 L_8 cage was obtained by prolongating the reaction.This conve rsion and the interlocked structure was clearly revealed by using ~1 H NMR,mass spectrometry and X-ray crystallography.The driving force of interlocking was mainly attributed to the interactions(hydrogen bonding,aromatic stacking and electrostatic interaction) arising from the aptitude of flexibility of the amide ligand.