Confining molecules within aqueous coordination nanoparticles by adaptive molecular self-assembly

A turn-on coordination nanoparticle-based fluorescent probe for phosphate in human serum

Coordination nanoparticles (CNPs) are becoming attractive platforms for chemical sensing applications because their unique adjustable properties offer the opportunity to design various luminescent nanoprobes. Here, we present a CNP-based fluorescent nanoprobe, in which fluorophores (rhodamine B, RB) and quenchers (methylene blue, MB) were spontaneously enfolded by coordination networks self-assembled of adenine, biphenyl-4,4'-dicarboxylic acid (BDA) and zinc ions. The aggregation of fluorophores and quenchers in CNPs resulted in a quenched state fluorescence of RB. RB and MB could be released from CNPs in the presence of phosphate, which triggered the fluorescence of RB. On the basis of recognition-driven disassembly principle, a novel turn-on fluorescent probe for the determination of PO4(3-) with a wide response range (0.5-50 μM) has been successfully applied in the detection of phosphate in human serum samples. This work not only develops a probe for phosphate but also provides a general strategy for designing nanoprobes or nanocarriers towards various targets by altering organic linkers or metal ions.

Facile preparation of graphene nanoribbon/cobalt coordination polymer nanohybrid for non-enzymatic H2O2 sensing by dual transduction: electrochemical and fluorescence

A novel graphene nanoribbon (GNR)/cobalt coordination polymer (MCPs) composite (MCPs@GNR) is prepared by in situ reduction of graphene oxide nanoribbon (GONR) with simultaneous growth of MCPs nanoparticles on its surface demonstrating high H₂O₂ sensing.

Dynamic self-assembly of coordination polymers in aqueous solution

The construction of supramolecular polymers has been intensively pursued because the nanostructures formed through weak non-covalent interactions can be triggered by external stimuli leading to smart materials and sensors. Self-assemblies of coordination polymers consisting of metal ions and organic ligands in aqueous solution also provide particular contributions in this area. The main motivation for developing those coordination polymers originates from the value-added combination between metal ions and ligands. This review highlights the recent progress of the dynamic self-assembly of coordination polymers that result from the sophisticated molecular design, towards fabricating stimuli-responsive systems and bio-related materials. Dynamic structural changes and switchable physical properties triggered by various stimuli are summarized. Finally, the outlook for aqueous nanostructures originated from the dynamic self-assembly of coordination polymers is also presented.

"Plug and play" logic gates based on fluorescence switching regulated by self-assembly of nucleotide and lanthanide ions

Molecular logic gates in response to chemical, biological, or optical input signals at a molecular level have received much interest over the past decade. Herein, we construct "plug and play" logic systems based on the fluorescence switching of guest molecules confined in coordination polymer nanoparticles generated from nucleotide and lanthanide ions. In the system, the addition of new modules directly enables new logic functions. PASS 0, YES, PASS 1, NOT, IMP, OR, and AND gates are successfully constructed in sequence. Moreover, different logic gates (AND, INH, and IMP) can be constructed using different guest molecules and the same input combinations. The work will be beneficial to the future logic design and expand the applications of coordination polymers.

Water-stable, adaptive, and electroactive supramolecular ionic material and its application in biosensing

Developing water-stable and adaptive supramolecular materials is of great importance in various research fields. Here, we demonstrate a new kind of water-stable, adaptive, and electroactive supramolecular ionic materials (SIM) that is formed from the aqueous solutions of imidazolium-based dication and dianionic dye (i.e., 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid), ABTS) through ionic self-assembly. The formed SIM not only shows good thermostability and unique optical and electrochemical properties that are raised from precursors of the SIM, but also exhibits good water-stability, salt-stability, and adaptive encapsulation properties toward some heterocyclic cationic dye molecules. UV-vis and FT-IR results demonstrate that this encapsulation property is essentially based on the electrostatic interactions between the guest dye molecules and ABTS in the SIM. The application of the SIM prepared here is illustrated by the development of a new electrochemical sensor for NADH sensing at a low potential. This study not only opens a new avenue to the preparation of the supramolecular materials, but also provides a versatile platform for electrochemical (bio)sensing.

Multiconfigurable logic gates based on fluorescence switching in adaptive coordination polymer nanoparticles

Fluorescence switching of guest molecules confined in coordination polymer nanoparticles (CPNs) generated from nucleotides and lanthanide ions are used to construct multiconfigurable logic gates. Moreover, the potential of the material as fluorescent probe with large Stokes shift is demonstrated for cellular imaging. In this work the logic gate is integrated into the therapeutic agent and this will be highly beneficial in future molecular computing.

Coordination Polymer Particles with ligand-centred pH-responses and spin transition

New amorphous coordination polymer particles (CPPs) based on bis-catechol ligands showed pH-tuned spin transition responses.

Switching on fluorescence for selective visual recognition of naringenin and morin with a metal-organic coordination polymer of Zn(bix) [bix=1,4-bis(imidazol-1-ylmethyl)benzene]

Flavonoids such as naringenin and morin are ubiquitous in a wide range of foods isolated from plants, and have diverse effects on plants even on human health. Here, we establish a selective visual method for recognition of aringenin and morin based on the "switched on" fluorescence induced by a metal-organic coordination polymer of Zn(bix) [bix=1,4-bis(imidazol-1-ylmethyl)benzene]. Owing to the coordination interaction of aringenin and morin with Zn(II) from the polymeric structure of Zn(bix), the conformational free rotation of naringenin and morin is restricted leading to relatively rigid structures. And as a consequence, the fluorescence is switched on. While luteolin and quercetin, holding a very similar structure with naringenin and morin, have no such fluorescence enhancement most likely owing to the 3'-hydroxy substitution in the B ring. Under 365 nm UV lamp light, we can visually recognize and discriminate naringenin and morin from them each other and luteolin as well as quercetin based on the colors of their emission. With this recognition system, the detection of naringenin and morin in human urine was made with satisfactory results.

Lanthanide coordination polymer nanoparticles for sensing of mercury(II) by photoinduced electron transfer

The metal-organic coordination polymers at the nanoscale have emerged as attractive nanomaterials due to their tunable nature. In this work, we for the first time prepared an adenine-based lanthanide coordination polymer nanoparticle (CPNP) with fluorescence sensing function. This kind of CPNP was composed of adenine, terbium ion (Tb(3+)), and dipicolinic acid (DPA) as an auxiliary linking molecule that can sensitize the fluorescence of Tb(3+). The fluorescence of the CPNPs is very weak due to the existence of photoinduced electron transfer (PET) from adenine to DPA, which prevents the intramolecular energy transfer from DPA to Tb(3+), leading to the quench of fluorescence of the CPNPs. In the presence of Hg(2+), however, significant enhancement in the fluorescence of CPNPs was observed because of the suppression of the PET process by the coordination of Hg(2+) with adenine. As a kind of Hg(2+) nanosensor, the CPNPs exhibit excellent selectivity and ultrahigh sensitivity up to the 0.2 nM detection limit. The CPNPs also possess an approximately millisecond-scale-long fluorescence lifetime due to the inclusion of Tb(3+) ions. We envision that the CPNPs could find great potential applications in ultrasensitive time-resolved fluorometric assays and biomedical imaging in the future owing to their long emission lifetimes, excellent dispersion, and stability in aqueous solution.

Converting molecular information of redox coenzymes via self-assembly

β-Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD(+)) and its reduced form NADH specifically interact with a cyanine dye in aqueous media, giving distinct spectral and nanostructural characteristics to which molecular information of constituent coenzymes are converted via self-assembly.

Self-assembled coordination nanoparticles from nucleotides and lanthanide ions with doped-boronic acid-fluorescein for detection of cyanide in the presence of Cu2+ in water

The sensor molecule, F-oBOH, containing boronic acid-linked hydrazide and fluorescein moieties was synthesized. For anion sensing applications, F-oBOH was studied in aqueous media. Unfortunately, F-oBOH was found to be hydrolyzed in water. Therefore, a new strategy was developed to prevent the hydrolysis of F-oBOH by applying self-assembly coordination nanoparticles network (F-oBOH-AMP/Gd(3+) CNPs). Interestingly, the nanoparticles network displayed the enhancement of fluorescent signal after adding Cu(2+) following by CN(-). The network, therefore, possessed a high selectivity for detection of CN(-) compared to other competitive anions in the presence of Cu(2+). Cyanide ion could promote the Cu(2+) binding to F-oBOH incorporated in AMP/Gd(3+) CNPs to give the opened-ring form of spirolactam resulting in the fourfold of fluorescence enhancement compared to Cu(2+) complexation without CN(-). Additionally, the log K value of F-oBOH-AMP/Gd(3+) CNPs⊂Cu(2+) toward CN(-) was 3.97 and the detection limits obtained from naked-eye and spectrofluorometry detections were 20μM and 4.03μM, respectively. The proposed method was demonstrated to detect CN(-) in drinking water with high accuracy.

Ag(+)-enhanced fluorescence of lanthanide/nucleotide coordination polymers and Ag(+) sensing

The weak fluorescence of lanthanide/nucleotide coordination polymers was greatly enhanced by Ag(+) in aqueous solution, which has been used for highly sensitive sensing of Ag(+).

Nanoscale metal-organic frameworks for biomedical imaging and drug delivery

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), a class of hybrid materials formed by the self-assembly of polydentate bridging ligands and metal-connecting points, have been studied for a variety of applications. Recently, these materials have been scaled down to nanometer sizes, and this Account details the development of nanoscale metal-organic frameworks (NMOFs) for biomedical applications. NMOFs possess several potential advantages over conventional nanomedicines such as their structural and chemical diversity, their high loading capacity, and their intrinsic biodegradability. Under relatively mild conditions, NMOFs can be obtained as either crystalline or amorphous materials. The particle composition, size, and morphology can be easily tuned to optimize the final particle properties. Researchers have employed two general strategies to deliver active agents using NMOFs: by incorporating active agents into the frameworks or by loading active agents into the pores and channels of the NMOFs. The modification of NMOF surfaces with either silica coatings or organic polymers improves NMOF stability, fine-tunes their properties, and imparts additional functionality. Preliminary biomedical applications of NMOFs have focused on their use as delivery vehicles for imaging contrast agents and molecular therapeutics. Because NMOFs can carry large amounts of paramagnetic metal ions, they have been extensively explored as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents. Both Gd(3+)- and Mn(2+)-containing NMOFs have shown excellent efficacy as T(1)-weighted contrast agents with large per metal- and per particle-based MR relaxivities. Fe(3+)-containing NMOFs have demonstrated excellent T(2)-weighted contrast enhancement. Upon intravenous injection of iron carboxylate NMOFs in Wistar rats, researchers observed negative signal enhancement in the liver and spleen, which dissipated over time, indicating the degradation and clearance of the NMOF. Through the incorporation of luminescent or high Z element building blocks, NMOFs have also served as viable contrast agents for optical imaging or X-ray computed tomography (CT) imaging. Incorporation of membrane impermeable dyes into NMOFs allowed for their uptake by cancer cells and for their controlled release as the framework decomposed. NMOFs have been used to deliver anticancer drugs and other chemotherapeutics. Cisplatin prodrugs were incorporated within NMOFs at exceptionally high levels, either through use of the prodrug as the building block or through attachment of the prodrug onto the framework after synthesis. These NMOFs were encapsulated within a silica shell and targeted to cancer cells. In vitro assays revealed that the targeted NMOFs possessed similar efficacy to cisplatin, while the nontargeted NMOFs were less active. Several different therapeutic molecules were loaded within porous iron-carboxylate NMOFs at unprecedented levels. The NMOF showed sustained drug release with no burst effect, and in vitro assays revealed that the nanoencapsulated drug possessed similar efficacy to the free drug. Although still at a very early stage of development, NMOFs have already shown great promise as a novel platform for nanomedicine. The compositional tunability and mild synthetic conditions used to produce NMOFs should allow for the incorporation of other imaging and therapeutic agents and their effective delivery to targeted cells in vivo.

Conversion of molecular information by luminescent nanointerface self-assembled from amphiphilic Tb(III) complexes

A novel amphiphilic Tb(3+) complex (TbL(+)) having anionic bis(pyridine) arms and a hydrophobic alkyl chain is developed. It spontaneously self-assembles in water and gives stable vesicles that show sensitized luminescence of Tb(3+) ions at neutral pH. This TbL(+) complex is designed to show coordinative unsaturation, i.e., water molecules occupy some of the first coordination spheres and are replaceable upon binding of phosphate ions. These features render TbL(+) self-assembling receptor molecules which show increase in the luminescence intensity upon binding of nucleotides. Upon addition of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), significant amplification of luminescent intensity was observed. On the other hand, ADP showed moderately increased luminescence and almost no enhancement was observed for AMP. Very interestingly, the increase in luminescence intensity observed for ATP and ADP showed sigmoidal dependence on the concentration of added nucleotides. It indicates positive cooperative binding of these nucleotides to TbL(+) complexes preorganized on the vesicle surface. Self-assembly of amphiphilic Tb(3+) receptor complexes provides nanointerfaces which selectively convert and amplify molecular information of high energy phosphates linked by phosphoanhydride bonds into luminescence intensity changes.

Nanoscale Ln(III)-carboxylate coordination polymers (Ln = Gd, Eu, Yb): temperature-controlled guest encapsulation and light harvesting

We report the self-assembly of stable nanoscale coordination polymers (NCPs), which exhibit temperature-controlled guest encapsulation and release, as well as an efficient light-harvesting property. NCPs are obtained by coordination-directed organization of pi-conjugated dicarboxylate (L1) and lanthanide metal ions Gd(III), Eu(III), and Yb(III) in a DMF system. Guest molecules trans-4-styryl-1-methylpyridiniumiodide (D1) and methylene blue (D2) can be encapsulated into NCPs, and the loading amounts can be controlled by changing reaction temperatures. Small angle X-ray diffraction (SAXRD) results reveal that the self-assembled discus-like NCPs exhibit long-range ordered structures, which remain unchanged after guest encapsulations. Experimental results reveal that the negatively charged local environment around the metal connector is the driving force for the encapsulation of cationic guests. The D1 molecules encapsulated in NCPs at 140 degrees C can be released gradually at room temperature in DMF. Guest-loaded NCPs exhibit efficient light harvesting with energy transfer from the framework to the guest D1 molecule, which is studied by photoluminescence and fluorescence lifetime decays. This coordination-directed encapsulation approach is general and should be extended to the fabrication of a wide range of multifunctional nanomaterials.

Selective inclusion of anionic quantum dots in coordination network shells of nucleotides and lanthanide ions

Anionic quantum dots (QDs) are spontaneously enfolded by coordination networks self-assembled from nucleotide monophosphates and lanthanide ions in water; luminescent core-shell nanoparticles are specifically obtained for anionic QDs, which allows their separation from amine-modified QDs.