scholarly journals Over one century after discovery: pyrylium salt chemistry emerging as a powerful approach for the construction of complex macrocycles and metallo-supramolecules

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (45) ◽  
pp. 12249-12268
Author(s):  
Yiming Li ◽  
Heng Wang ◽  
Xiaopeng Li
Keyword(s):  
Pyrylium Salt ◽  
Self Assembling ◽  
Large Complex ◽  
Powerful Approach ◽  
Complex Architectures

This perspective summarizes the representative efforts of synthesizing and self-assembling large, complex architectures using pyrylium salt chemistry.

Bioimaging Applications of Non-Lamellar Liquid Crystalline Nanoparticles

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 2742-2759
Author(s):  
Sergio Murgia ◽  
Stefania Biffi ◽  
Marco Fornasier ◽  
Vito Lippolis ◽  
Giacomo Picci ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Biomedical Applications ◽  
Liquid Crystalline ◽  
Colloidal Nanoparticles ◽  
Self Assembling ◽  
Complex Architectures ◽  
Imaging Probes ◽  
Bicontinuous Cubic ◽  
Liquid Crystalline Nanoparticles

Self-assembling processes of amphiphilic lipids in water give rise to complex architectures known as lyotropic liquid crystalline (LLC) phases. Particularly, bicontinuous cubic and hexagonal LLC phases can be dispersed in water forming colloidal nanoparticles respectively known as cubosomes and hexosomes. These non-lamellar LLC dispersions are of particular interest for pharmaceutical and biomedical applications as they are potentially non-toxic, chemically stable, and biocompatible, also allowing encapsulation of large amounts of drugs. Furthermore, conjugation of specific moieties enables their targeting, increasing therapeutic efficacies and reducing side effects by avoiding exposure of healthy tissues. In addition, as they can be easy loaded or functionalized with both hydrophobic and hydrophilic imaging probes, cubosomes and hexosomes can be used for the engineering of multifunctional/theranostic nanoplatforms. This review outlines recent advances in the applications of cubosomes and hexosomes for in vitro and in vivo bioimaging.

Nest Building and Self-Assembling

1999 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Bonabeau ◽  
Marco Dorigo ◽  
Guy Theraulaz
Keyword(s):  
Social Insects ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Fitness Function ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Nest Building ◽  
Nest Construction ◽  
Polistes Dominulus ◽  
Self Assembling ◽  
Complex Architectures

Social insect nest architectures can be complex, intricate structures. Stigmergy (see section 1.2.3), that is, the coordination of activities through the environment, is an important mechanism underlying nest construction in social insects. Two types of stigmergy are distinguished: quantitative, or continuous stigmergy, in which the different stimuli that trigger behavior are quantitatively different; and qualitative, or discrete stigmergy, in which stimuli can be classified into different classes that differ qualitatively. If quantitative stigmergy can explain the emergence of pillars in termites, the building behavior of the paper wasps Polistes dominulus seems to be better described by qualitative stigmergy. In this chapter, a simple agent-based model inspired by discrete stigmergy is introduced. In the model, agents move in a three-dimensional grid and drop elementary building blocks depending on the configuration of blocks in their neighborhood. From the viewpoint of bricks, this model is a model of self-assembly. The model generates a large proportion of random or space-filling forms, but some patterns appear to be structured. Some of the patterns even look like wasp nests. The properties of the structured shapes obtained with the model, and of the algorithms that generate them, are reviewed. Based on these properties, a fitness function is constructed so that structured architectures have a large fitness and unstructured patterns a small fitness. A genetic algorithm based on the fitness function is used to explore the space of architectures. Several examples of self-assembling systems in robotics, engineering, and architecture are described. Self-assembling or self-reconfigurable robotic systems, although they are not directly inspired by nest construction in social insects, could benefit from the discrete-stigmergy model of nest building. The method of evolutionary design, that is, the creation of new designs by computers using evolutionary algorithms, is a promising way of exploring the patterns that self-assembling models can produce. Many animals can produce very complex architectures that fulfill numerous functional and adaptive requirements (protection from predators, substrate of social life and reproductive activities, thermal regulation, etc.).

scholarly journals Encoding biological recognition in a bicomponent cell-membrane mimic

2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (12) ◽  
pp. 5376-5382 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cesar Rodriguez-Emmenegger ◽  
Qi Xiao ◽  
Nina Yu. Kostina ◽  
Samuel E. Sherman ◽  
Khosrow Rahimi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cell Membrane ◽  
Soft Matter ◽  
Binding Proteins ◽  
Complex Molecules ◽  
Periodic Arrays ◽  
Sugar Binding ◽  
Supramolecular Architectures ◽  
Self Assembling ◽  
Complex Architectures ◽  
Biological Recognition

Self-assembling dendrimers have facilitated the discovery of periodic and quasiperiodic arrays of supramolecular architectures and the diverse functions derived from them. Examples are liquid quasicrystals and their approximants plus helical columns and spheres, including some that disregard chirality. The same periodic and quasiperiodic arrays were subsequently found in block copolymers, surfactants, lipids, glycolipids, and other complex molecules. Here we report the discovery of lamellar and hexagonal periodic arrays on the surface of vesicles generated from sequence-defined bicomponent monodisperse oligomers containing lipid and glycolipid mimics. These vesicles, known as glycodendrimersomes, act as cell-membrane mimics with hierarchical morphologies resembling bicomponent rafts. These nanosegregated morphologies diminish sugar–sugar interactions enabling stronger binding to sugar-binding proteins than densely packed arrangements of sugars. Importantly, this provides a mechanism to encode the reactivity of sugars via their interaction with sugar-binding proteins. The observed sugar phase-separated hierarchical arrays with lamellar and hexagonal morphologies that encode biological recognition are among the most complex architectures yet discovered in soft matter. The enhanced reactivity of the sugar displays likely has applications in material science and nanomedicine, with potential to evolve into related technologies.

Torus Circumference and Thickness Parameters From a Linear DNA Size Series Suggest How Toruses Self-Assemble

1985 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
pp. 522-523
Author(s):  
George C. Ruben ◽  
Kenneth A. Marx
Keyword(s):  
Tertiary Structure ◽  
Dna Complexes ◽  
Tertiary Structures ◽  
Self Assembling ◽  
Double Stranded Dna ◽  
Calf Thymus ◽  
Dna Organization ◽  
Condensed Dna ◽  
Dna Size

Certain double stranded DNA bacteriophage and viruses are thought to have their DNA organized into large torus shaped structures. Morphologically, these poorly understood biological DNA tertiary structures resemble spermidine-condensed DNA complexes formed in vitro in the total absence of other macromolecules normally synthesized by the pathogens for the purpose of their own DNA packaging. Therefore, we have studied the tertiary structure of these self-assembling torus shaped spermidine- DNA complexes in a series of reports. Using freeze-etch, low Pt-C metal (10-15Å) replicas, we have visualized the microscopic DNA organization of both calf Thymus( CT) and linear 0X-174 RFII DNA toruses. In these structures DNA is circumferentially wound, continuously, around the torus into a semi-crystalline, hexagonal packed array of parallel DNA helix sections.

Structure–property studies of self-assembling [n.n]paracyclophanes

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Will R Henderson ◽  
Danielle E. Fagnani ◽  
Yu Zhu ◽  
Guancen Liu ◽  
Ronald K. Castellano
Keyword(s):  
Structure Property ◽  
Self Assembling

Self assembling mirrors

Nature ◽  
1999 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Ball
Keyword(s):  
Self Assembling

Combinatorial Peptide Libraries for Selecting Inorganic-Binding Proteins: A Step in Molecular Biomimetics

2003 ◽  
Vol 773 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Tamerler ◽  
S. Dinçer ◽  
D. Heidel ◽  
N. Karagûler ◽  
M. Sarikaya
Keyword(s):  
Binding Proteins ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Molecular Engineering ◽  
Inorganic Materials ◽  
Combinatorial Peptide Libraries ◽  
Self Assembling ◽  
Complex Functions ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Specific Proteins ◽  
Molecular Biomimetics

AbstractProteins, one of the building blocks in organisms, not only control the assembly in biological systems but also provide most of their complex functions. It may be possible to assemble materials for practical technological applications utilizing the unique advantages provided by proteins. Here we discuss molecular biomimetic pathways in the quest for imitating biology at the molecular scale via protein engineering. We use combinatorial biology protocols to select short polypeptides that have affinity to inorganic materials and use them in assembling novel hybrid materials. We give an overview of some of the recent developments of molecular engineering towards this goal. Inorganic surface specific proteins were identified by using cell surface and phage display technologies. Examples of metal and metal oxide specific polypeptides were represented with an emphasis on certain level of specificities. The recognition and self assembling characteristics of these inorganic-binding proteins would be employed in develeopment of hybrid multifunctional materials for novel bio- and nano-technological applications.

Selective Growth of Self-Assembling Si and SiGe Quantum Dots

2014 ◽  
Vol E97.C (5) ◽  
pp. 393-396
Author(s):  
Katsunori MAKIHARA ◽  
Mitsuhisa IKEDA ◽  
Seiichi MIYAZAKI
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Dots ◽  
Selective Growth ◽  
Self Assembling

Factors Affecting Molecular Self-Assembly and Its Mechanism

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hueyling Tan
Keyword(s):  
Self Assembly ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Molecular Engineering ◽  
Molecular Structures ◽  
Polymer Science ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Dna Structures ◽  
Self Assembling ◽  
Wide Range

Molecular self-assembly is ubiquitous in nature and has emerged as a new approach to produce new materials in chemistry, engineering, nanotechnology, polymer science and materials. Molecular self-assembly has been attracting increasing interest from the scientific community in recent years due to its importance in understanding biology and a variety of diseases at the molecular level. In the last few years, considerable advances have been made in the use ofpeptides as building blocks to produce biological materials for wide range of applications, including fabricating novel supra-molecular structures and scaffolding for tissue repair. The study ofbiological self-assembly systems represents a significant advancement in molecular engineering and is a rapidly growing scientific and engineering field that crosses the boundaries ofexisting disciplines. Many self-assembling systems are rangefrom bi- andtri-block copolymers to DNA structures as well as simple and complex proteins andpeptides. The ultimate goal is to harness molecular self-assembly such that design andcontrol ofbottom-up processes is achieved thereby enabling exploitation of structures developed at the meso- and macro-scopic scale for the purposes oflife and non-life science applications. Such aspirations can be achievedthrough understanding thefundamental principles behind the selforganisation and self-synthesis processes exhibited by biological systems.

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