Polymorphism in Benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxamide Supramolecular Assemblies in Water: A Subtle Trade-off between Structure and Dynamics

Development of Nanoscale Hybrids from Ionic Liquid-Peptide Amphiphile Assemblies as New Functional Materials

Over the years, ionic liquids (ILs) have gained tremendous importance because of their unique properties and plethora of applications. In this work, we have developed a new nanoscale hybrid gel consisting of 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium dimethyl phosphate, [C2mim][dmp], and self-assembled peptide nanoassemblies. The peptide nanoassemblies were formed by self-assembly of a newly synthesized peptide bolaamphiphile bis(N-α-amido-threonine) 1,7 heptane dicarboxylate (ThrC7). Upon mild heating and sonication of the IL and ThrC7 nanoassemblies, ThrC7-IL nanocomposites were formed. We explored the formation of nanohybrids by varying the ratio of IL to ThrC7 assemblies. While at lower IL ratios, a gelatinous matrix was formed, at higher IL ratios, highly ordered multilayered structures were observed by atomic force microscopy (AFM) imaging. The interactions between the ThrC7 nanofibers and [C2mim][dmp] IL were probed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and AFM imaging. Differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis showed that the nanohybrids illustrated distinct thermal phase changes due to changes in hydrogen bonding interactions and unfolding of the nanoassemblies. The viscoelastic behavior of the nanohybrids indicated that the materials displayed higher storage modulus upon incorporation of the ThrC7 nanoassemblies when compared to the IL. Furthermore, the nanohybrids were found to adhere to and promote proliferation of human dermal fibroblasts, while cytotoxicity was observed toward MCF-7 breast cancer cells. Thus, for the first time, we have developed peptide-based nanohybrids with an imidazolium-based IL with unique structural properties that may open new avenues for exploring potential biological applications.

Modulation of the Self-Assembly of π-Amphiphiles in Water from Enthalpy- to Entropy-Driven by Enwrapping Substituents

Depending on the connectivity of solubilizing oligoethylene glycol (OEG) side chains to the π-cores of amphiphilic naphthalene and perylene bisimide dyes, self-assembly in water occurs either upon heating or cooling. Herein, we show that this effect originates from differences in the enwrapping capability of the π-cores by the OEG chains. Rylene bisimides bearing phenyl substituents with three OEG chains attached directly to the hydrophobic π-cores are strongly sequestered by the OEG chains. These molecules self-assemble at elevated temperatures in an entropy-driven process according to temperature- and concentration-dependent UV/Vis spectroscopy and calorimetric dilution studies. In contrast, for rylene bisimides in which phenyl substituents with three OEG chains are attached via a methylene spacer, leading to much weaker sequestration, self-assembly originates upon cooling in an enthalpy-driven process. Our explanation for this controversial behavior is that the aggregation in the latter case is dictated by the release of "high energy water" from the hydrophobic π-surfaces as well as dispersion interactions between the π-scaffolds which drive the self-assembly in an enthalpically driven process. In contrast, for the former case we suggest that in addition to the conventional explanation of a dehydration of hydrogen-bonded water molecules from OEG units it is in particular the increase in conformational entropy of back-folded OEG side chains upon aggregation that provides the pronounced gain in entropy that drives the aggregation process. Thus, our studies revealed that a subtle change in the attachment of solubilizing substituents can switch the thermodynamic signature for the self-assembly of amphiphilic dyes in water from enthalpy- to entropy-driven.

Divergent Self-Assembly Pathways to Hierarchically Organized Networks of Isopeptide-Modified Discotics under Kinetic Control

Natural proteins traverse complex free energy landscapes to assemble into hierarchically organized structures, often through stimuli-directed kinetic pathways in response to relevant biological cues. Bioinspired strategies have sought to emulate the complexity, dynamicity, and modularity exhibited in these natural processes with synthetic analogues. However, these efforts are limited by many factors that complicate the rational design and predictable assembly of synthetic constructs, especially in aqueous environments. Herein, a model discotic amphiphile gelator is described that undergoes pathway-dependent structural maturation when exposed to varying application rates of a pH stimulus, investigated by electron microscopy, spectroscopy, and X-ray scattering techniques. Under the direction of a slowly changing pH stimulus, complex hierarchical assemblies result, characterized by mesoscale elongated "superstructure" bundles embedded in a percolated mesh of narrow nanofibers. In contrast, the assembly under a rapidly applied pH stimulus is characterized by homogeneous structures that are reminiscent of the superstructures arising from the more deliberate path, except with significantly reduced scale and concomitantly large increases in bulk rheological properties. This synthetic system bears resemblance to the pathway complexity and hierarchical ordering observed for native structures, such as collagen, and points to fundamental design principles that might be applied toward enhanced control of the properties of supramolecular self-assembly across length scales.

Supramolecular microtubes based on 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxamides prepared by self-assembly upon heating

A series of three 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxamides with peripheral tertiary N,N-dialkyl-ethylamino substituents with different length of the alkyl groups is reported. In particular, the N¹,N³,N⁵-tris[2-(diethylamino)-ethyl]-1,3,5-benzenetricarboxamide exhibits phase separation followed by self-assembly upon heating from aqueous solution into well-defined supramolecular fiber-like structures in the form of microtubes.

Strategies to Improve Nanofibrous Scaffolds for Vascular Tissue Engineering

The biofabrication of biomimetic scaffolds for tissue engineering applications is a field in continuous expansion. Of particular interest, nanofibrous scaffolds can mimic the mechanical and structural properties (e.g., collagen fibers) of the natural extracellular matrix (ECM) and have shown high potential in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. This review presents a general overview on nanofiber fabrication, with a specific focus on the design and application of electrospun nanofibrous scaffolds for vascular regeneration. The main nanofiber fabrication approaches, including self-assembly, thermally induced phase separation, and electrospinning are described. We also address nanofibrous scaffold design, including nanofiber structuring and surface functionalization, to improve scaffolds' properties. Scaffolds for vascular regeneration with enhanced functional properties, given by providing cells with structural or bioactive cues, are discussed. Finally, current in vivo evaluation strategies of these nanofibrous scaffolds are introduced as the final step, before their potential application in clinical vascular tissue engineering can be further assessed.

Exploring and Controlling the Polymorphism in Supramolecular Assemblies of Carbohydrates and Proteins

In biology, polymorphism is a well-known phenomenon by which a discrete biomacromolecule can adopt multiple specific conformations in response to its environment. This term can be extended to the ability of biomacromolecules to pack into different ordered patterns. Thus, exploration and control of the polymorphism of biomacromolecules via supramolecular methods have been key steps in achieving bioinspired structures, developing bioinspired functional materials, and exploring the mechanisms of these self-assembly processes, which are models for more complex biological systems. This task could be difficult for proteins and carbohydrates due to the complicated multiple noncovalent interactions of these two species which can hardly be manipulated.In this account, dealing with the structural polymorphisms from biomacromolecular assemblies, we will first briefly comment on the problems that carbohydrate/protein assemblies are facing, and then on the basis of our long-term research on carbohydrate self-assemblies, we will summarize the new strategies that we have developed in our laboratory in recent years to explore and control the polymorphism of carbohydrate/protein assemblies.Considering the inherent ability of carbohydrates to recognize lectin, we proposed the "inducing ligand" strategy to assemble natural proteins into various nanostructures with highly ordered packing patterns. The newly developed inducing ligand approach opened a new window for protein assembly where dual noncovalent interactions (i.e., carbohydrate-protein interactions and dimerization of rhodamine) instead of the traditionally used protein-protein interactions direct the assembly pattern of proteins. As a result, various polymorphisms of protein assemblies have been constructed by simply changing the ligand chemical structure and/or the rhodamine dimerization.Another concept that we proposed for glycopolymer self-assembly is DISA (i.e., deprotection-induced glycopolymer self-assembly). It is well known that protection-deprotection chemistry has been employed to construct complex oligosaccharide structures. However, its application in glycopolymer self-assembly has been overlooked. We initiated this new strategy with diblock copolymers. Such copolymers with a carbohydrate block having protected pendent groups exist as single chains in organic media. The self-assembly can be initiated by the deprotection of the pendent groups. The process was nicely controlled by introducing various protective groups with different deprotection rates. Later on, the DISA process has been proven practical in water and even in the cellular environment, which opens a new avenue for the development of polymeric glycomaterials.Finally, the resultant polymeric glyco-materials, as a new type of biomimetic materials, provide a nice platform for investigating the functions of glycocalyx. The glycocalyx-mimicking nanoparticles achieved unprecedent functions which exceed their carbohydrate precursors. Here, the reversion of tumor-associated macrophages induced by glycocalyx-mimicking nanoparticles will be discussed with potential applications in cancer immunotherapy, where such a reversion effect could be combined with other methods (e.g., tumor checkpoint blockade).

Structurally Tunable pH-Responsive Luminescent Assemblies from Halogen Bonded Supra-π-amphiphiles

Supra-amphiphiles constituted of noncovalent bonds have emerged as attractive systems for fabrication of stimuli-responsive self-assembled nanostructures. A unique supramolecular strategy utilizing halogen (X)-bonding interaction has been demonstrated for constructing emissive supra-π-amphiphiles in water from a hydrophobic pyridyl functionalized naphthalene monoimide (NMI-Py) based X-bond acceptor and hydrophilic iodotetrafluorophenyl functionalized polyethylene glycol (PEG-I) or triethylene glycol (TEG-I) based X-bond donors, while their luminescent higher ordered assemblies were governed by orthogonal dipole-dipole interaction and π-stacking of the NMI-Py fluorophore as probed by SCXRD and DFT calculations. Control molecules lacking iodotetrafluorophenyl moiety at the polyethylene glycol chain end failed to create any defined morphology from the NMI-Py, suggesting X-bonding is prerequisite for the nanostructure formation. Variation in the chain length of the X-bond donors leads to different morphologies (fiber vs vesicle) for PEG-I and TEG-I. Acid triggered denaturing of the X-bonds caused pH responsive disassembly of the thermally robust nanostructures. This strategy paves the way for facile fabrication of structurally diverse smart and adaptive luminescent functional materials with tunable morphology.

Impact of Positional Isomerism on Pathway Complexity in Aqueous Media

Pathway complexity has become an important topic in recent years due to its relevance in the optimization of molecular assembly processes, which typically require precise sample preparation protocols. Alternatively, competing aggregation pathways can be controlled by molecular design, which primarily rely on geometrical changes of the building blocks. However, understanding how to control pathway complexity by molecular design remains elusive and new approaches are needed. Herein, we exploit positional isomerism as a new molecular design strategy for pathway control in aqueous self-assembly. We compare the self-assembly of two carboxyl-functionalized amphiphilic BODIPY dyes that solely differ in the relative position of functional groups. Placement of the carboxyl group at the 2-position enables efficient pairwise H-bonding interactions into a single thermodynamic species, whereas meso-substitution induces pathway complexity due to competing hydrophobic and hydrogen bonding interactions. Our results show the importance of positional engineering for pathway control in aqueous self-assembly.

Tunable low-dimensional self-assembly of H-shaped bichromophoric perylenediimide Gemini in solution

A material with diverse self-assembled morphologies is extremely important and highly desirable because such samples can provide tunable optical and electronic properties, which are critical in applications such as organic photovoltaics, microelectronics and bio-imaging. Moreover, the synthesis and controllable self-assembly of H-shaped bichromophoric perylenediimides (PDIs) are needed to advance these materials in organic photovoltaics, microelectronics and bio-imaging; however, this has remained a great challenge thus far. Here, we successfully synthesize a novel H-shaped bichromophoric PDI Gemini through the palladium-catalyzed coupling reaction. The as-prepared PDI Gemini exhibited unprecedented tunable self-assembly behavior in solution, yielding diverse low-dimensional superstructures, such as one-dimensional (1D) helices, two-dimensional (2D) rectangular nanocrystals, pyramid-shaped parallelograms, ultralarge micro-sheets, and uniform nanospheres, under different self-assembly conditions. Of particular interest, the 2D hierarchical superstructures along with their formation mechanisms represent the first finding in the self-assembly of PDI-based molecules. This study opens a new avenue for tunable self-assembly of conjugated molecules and affords opportunities for the fabrication of novel self-assembled optical and electronic materials based on PDI molecules.

Hydrogen bond-directed supramolecular polymorphism leading to soft and hard molecular ordering

Transformation of metastable supramolecular stacks of hydrogen-bonded rosettes composed of an ester-containing barbiturated naphthalene into crystalline nanosheets occurs through the rearrangement of hydrogen-bonding patterns.

The generation of stabilized supramolecular nanorods from star-shaped polyglutamates

We developed a new strategy of polyglutamate nanorod preparation based on supramolecular polymers stabilized with hydrophobic drugs.

Synergistic repulsive interactions trigger pathway complexity

We demonstrate the impact of synergistic repulsive interactions on pathway complexity in aqueous media.

Consistency and variability of cocrystals containing positional isomers: the self-assembly evolution mechanism of supramolecular synthons of cresol-piperazine

The disposition of functional groups can induce variations in the nature and type of interactions and hence affect the molecular recognition and self-assembly mechanism in cocrystals. To better understand the formation of cocrystals on a molecular level, the effects of disposition of functional groups on the formation of cocrystals were systematically and comprehensively investigated using cresol isomers (o-, m-, p-cresol) as model compounds. Consistency and variability in these cocrystals containing positional isomers were found and analyzed. The structures, molecular recognition and self-assembly mechanism of supramolecular synthons in solution and in their corresponding cocrystals were verified by a combined experimental and theoretical calculation approach. It was found that the heterosynthons (heterotrimer or heterodimer) combined with O-H⋯N hydrogen bonding played a significant role. Hirshfeld surface analysis and computed interaction energy values were used to determine the hierarchical ordering of the weak interactions. The quantitative analyses of charge transfers and molecular electrostatic potential were also applied to reveal and verify the reasons for consistency and variability. Finally, the molecular recognition, self-assembly and evolution process of the supramolecular synthons in solution were investigated. The results confirm that the supramolecular synthon structures formed initially in solution would be carried over to the final cocrystals, and the supramolecular synthon structures are the precursors of cocrystals and the information memory of the cocrystallization process, which is evidence for classical nucleation theory.

Photoinduced repetitive separation of a supramolecular assembly composed of an amphiphilic diarylethene mixture

A supramolecular assembly composed of a two-component mixture of amphiphilic diarylethenes, which have octyloxycarbonyl and N-octylcarbamoyl groups, showed a unique macroscopic transformation upon irradiation with UV light and subsequent standing in the dark. Unlike the pure compounds, the assembly was repetitively separated into a blue sphere and a red-purple sparse structure. Both the blue sphere and the sparse structure turned into colorless spheres upon irradiation with visible light and the divided colorless spheres showed the same response to UV and visible light. Phase diagrams based on the change in absorption spectra upon temperature change suggested that the transformation originates from a LCST transition. In the 0.5 : 0.5 mixture, in contrast to the pure compounds, the transition temperature sharply changed at around 50% of the fraction of the closed-ring isomer. TEM imaging showed that the 0.5 : 0.5 mixture with high photoisomerization yield formed a 10 nm-sized network. Judging from the phase diagram and TEM images, the separation is understood as the local phase transition of the regions with a high fraction of the closed-ring isomer.

Elucidating the Ordering in Self-Assembled Glycocalyx Mimicking Supramolecular Copolymers in Water

Polysaccharides present in the glycocalyx and extracellular matrix are highly important for a multitude of functions. Oligo- and polysaccharides-based biomaterials are being developed to mimic the glycocalyx, but the spatial functionalization of these polysaccharides represents a major challenge. In this paper, a series of benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxamide (BTA) based supramolecular monomers is designed and synthesized with mono- (BTA-β-d-glucose; BTA-Glc and BTA-α-d-mannose; BTA-Man) or disaccharides (BTA-β-d-cellobiose; BTA-Cel) at their periphery or a monosaccharide (BTA-OEG4-α-d-mannose; BTA-OEG4-Man) at the end of a tetraethylene glycol linker. These glycosylated BTAs have been used to generate supramolecular assemblies and it is shown that the nature of the carbohydrate appendage is crucial for the supramolecular (co)polymerization behavior. BTA-Glc and BTA-Man are shown to assemble into micrometers long 1D (bundled) fibers with opposite helicities, whereas BTA-Cel and BTA-OEG4-Man formed small spherical micelles. The latter two monomers are used in a copolymerization approach with BTA-Glc, BTA-Man, or ethylene glycol BTA (BTA-OEG4) to give 1D fibers with BTA-Cel or BTA-OEG4-Man incorporated. Consequently, the carbohydrate appendage influences both the assembly behavior and the internal order. Using this approach it is possible to create 1D-fibers with adjustable saccharide densities exhibiting tailored dynamic exchange profiles. Furthermore, hydrogels with tunable mechanical properties can be achieved, opening up possibilities for the development of multicomponent functional biomaterials.