Microtubule Formation Using Two-Component Gel System

Emergence of a Promiscuous Peroxidase Under Non-Equilibrium Conditions

Herein, we report the substrate induced generation of a transient catalytic microenvironment from a single amino acid functionalized fatty acid in presence of a cofactor hemin. The catalytic state accessed under non-equilibrium conditions showed acceleration of peroxidase activity resulting in degradation of the substrate and subsequently led to disassembly. Equilibrated systems could not access the three-dimensional microphases and showed substantially lower catalytic activity. Further, the assembled state showed latent catalytic function (promiscuity) to hydrolyze a precursor to yield the same substrate. Consequently, the assembly demonstrated protometabolism by exploiting the peroxidase-hydrolase cascade to augment the lifetime and the mechanical properties of the catalytic state.

Theoretical and experimental studies of an oseltamivir-triazole-based thermoresponsive organogel

Low-molecular weight organic gelators have been of significant interest in recent years because of their interesting properties and potential applications in sensing technology, biomedicine and drug delivery. Herein, the synthesis, characterization and gelation properties of new oseltamivir conjugates are reported. The oseltamivir-triazole conjugate 1 was synthesized via a click-reaction in a 75% yield. The key features of this conjugate include the presence of amide, flexible ester linkages and a triazole scaffold linking a hydrophobic alkyl chain. The conjugate 1, possessing a long alkyl chain, showed gelation properties in various apolar organic solvents. This gelation behavior was not observed in the case of the deesterified conjugate 2; this indicated the necessity of the alkyl chain for gelation. The gelator 1 showed thermoreversible gelation properties in a range of linear alkane solvents (from n-pentane to n-dodecane). A scanning electron microscopic study suggests that the gelator 1 exists as cross-linked structures, which are self-aggregated in the range of submicrometers, as supported by extensive 1H-NMR studies. The rheological parameters supported the occurrence of a soft gelation process, and the gel formed in n-decane was found to be stiffer than that formed in n-hexane. Computational studies suggested that the gelation behavior was indeed due to micelle formation and dependent on the lipophilicity of solvents.

Spermine-directed supramolecular self-assembly of water-soluble AIE-active tetraphenylethylene: nanobelt, nanosheet, globular and nanotubular structures

Tetrasulfonate-tetraphenylethylene (Su-TPE) is non-emissive in water and upon addition of a good solvent such as THF (f_THF = 95%) it displays strong fluorescence emission with a quantum yield of 6.33%.

Scaleable two-component gelator from phthalic acid derivatives and primary alkyl amines: acid-base interaction in the cooperative assembly

A series of phthalic acid derivatives (P) with a carbon-chain tail was designed and synthesized as single-component gelators. A combination of the single-component gelator P and a non-gelling additive n-alkylamine A through acid-base interaction brought about a series of novel phase-selective two-component gelators PA. The gelation capabilities of P and PA, and the structural, morphological, thermo-dynamic and rheological properties of the corresponding gels were investigated. A molecular dynamics simulation showed that the H-bonding network in PA formed between the NH of A and the carbonyl oxygen of P altered the assembly process of gelator P. Crude PA could be synthesized through a one-step process without any purification and could selectively gel the oil phase without a typical heating-cooling process. Moreover, such a crude PA and its gelation process could be amplified to the kilogram scale with high efficiency, which offers a practical economically viable solution to marine oil-spill recovery.

Installing Logic Gates to Multiresponsive Supramolecular Hydrogel Co-assembled from Phenylalanine Amphiphile and Bis(pyridinyl) Derivative

Recently, logic gates based on multiresponsive hydrogel systems are attractive because of their potential biological applications. A quite simple supramolecular hydrogel co-assembled from phenylalanine-based amphiphile (LPF2) and bis(pyridinyl) derivative (AP) is constructed. The co-assembled hydrogel exhibited a macroscopic gel-sol transition in response to four distinct input stimuli: temperature, acid, base, and light. A set of techniques including microscopic, spectroscopic, and rheological measurements demonstrate this performance and confirm that the hydrogel is formed through intermolecular hydrogen bonds between amide/pyridine moieties and carbonyl groups. On the basis of its mutiple-stimulus responsiveness, installing gel-based supramolecular logic gates (OR and XOR) is achieved. It may promote the possibility to develop smart soft materials, such as gels, that can be used as tools releasing a drug quantitatively by rational design and fine control of the external stimuli.

Tuning soft nanostructures in self-assembled supramolecular gels: from morphology control to morphology-dependent functions

Supramolecular gels are one kind of important soft material, in which small low-molecular weight compounds self-assemble into various nanostructures through non-covalent interactions to immobilize the solvents. While there are many important fundamental issues related to the gelation process, such as the design of the gelator, synergism of various non-covalent interactions between gelators, gelator-solvents, the balances between gelation and crystallization and so on, the self-assembled nanostructures forming during gelation are very interesting. These nanostructures have many unique features, such as the flexibility to respond to external stimuli, morphological diversity, ease of fabrication in large quantities, and so on. This review highlights some important features in tuning the nanostructures in the supramolecular gels from their morphological diversity, morphology control, morphology conversion, and morphology-depended functions.

Sugar based nanotube assembly for the construction of sonication triggered hydrogel: an application of the entrapment of tetracycline hydrochloride

The tube assembly comprised of naphthalimide and glucose segments could undergo direct suspension-to-hydrogel transformation accelerated by ultrasound.

Tuning the gelation ability of racemic mixture by melamine: enhanced mechanical rigidity and tunable nanoscale chirality

Understanding the relationship between molecular chirality of the gelators and the properties of the assembled supramolecular gels could be very important for developing novel functional soft matters. Although mixing the enantiomers with different molar ratios has been proved to be useful for modulating supramolecular assemblies, usually the racemates of different chiral molecules are not good gelators. In this study, the coassembly of the glutamic acid-based bolaamphiphile racemate and melamine was found to form hydrogels, while the assembly of the racemate only produced precipitates. Remarkably, the racemic hydrogels show lower CGC value, enhanced mechanical rigidity, and dual pH-responsive ability compared to the pure enantiomer hydrogels. The gelation properties, nanoscale chirality, and nanostructures of the racemic hydrogels can be regulated flexibly by changing molar ratios of different molecular building blocks.

Thermo-reversible gelation of rod-coil and coil-rod-coil molecules based on poly(dimethyl siloxane) and perylene imides and self-sorting of the homologous pair

Organogels with perylene derivatives and phthalocyanines reported in the literature so far involve self-assembly promoted by hydrogen bonds, in addition to aromatic and van der Waals interactions. Although the self assembly of these types of molecules without a hydrogen bonding group in the structure occurs in solution or during crystallization, the gelation studies reported so far incorporated a hydrogen bonding pair of the type N-H···O=C in the structure of the molecule. We present a case of thermo-reversible gelation without a hydrogen bonding group in the structure of (1) a coil-rod-coil molecule based on perylenetetracarboxylic diimide (PTCDI) and poly(dimethyl siloxane) (PDMS) and (2) a rod-coil molecule with perylene dicarboxylic imide (PDI) and PDMS. However IR spectroscopy shows the presence of multiple types of hydrogen bonding between the solvents and the gelator molecules. In addition, publications so far on gelation of perylene diimide based molecules involve groups attached to both imide nitrogens and with or without substitution in the bay position. We discuss here the gelation with a Mono-substituted perylene imide. The PDMS segment was attached to one side of PDI (Mono-PDMS) or to both imide nitrogens of PTCDI (Di-PDMS). The Mono-PDMS is an inverse macromolecular surfactant applicable to non-aqueous systems, and the Di-PDMS is a Gemini surfactant. The PDMS segment that we attached to PTCDI here is longer than most substituents used by other authors. These molecules gel propylamine, as well as mixed solvents of hexane-water and diisopropylamine-water. Both hexane and diisopropylamine dissolve Mono-PDMS and Di-PDMS at room temperature and addition of water results in precipitation. However, heating the solution to about 70 °C, adding water (5-15 wt%) and slowly cooling the solution, lead to gelation. The Di-PDMS forms fibers which are not flat but curved as an eaves trough. The Mono-PDMS forms hollow spheres. Although the Mono-PDMS and Di-PDMS are a homologous pair, blends of these do not show molecular intercalation during gelation, but self-sort. The fibers of Di-PDMS based gels encapsulate the spheres of the Mono-PDMS based gels.

Reversible organogels triggered by dynamic K+ binding and release

In this study, a new lipophilic guanosine derivative was synthesized as an organogelator. The self-aggregation behavior of this organogelator was investigated by NMR, XRD and AFM. In solution, the lipophilic guanosine derivative can form a stable ribbon-like structure through NH(1)-N(7) and NH(2)-O(6) hydrogen bonds. However, gelation would occur in some aprotic solvents after the concentration reached a definite value. More interesting, the ribbon-like structure was able to change to G-quartets in the presence of K(+), which led to the transformation from a gel to a sol. Upon the addition of the cryptand [2.2.2], which can efficiently complex with K(+), G-quartets reverted to the original ribbon-like structure and the gel recovered. Subsequently, upon the addition of acids, K(+) was released from the cryptate with the transformation of gel-to-sol simultaneously. Finally, upon the addition of bases which deprotonated [H(+) ⊂ 2.2.2], the liberated cryptand [2.2.2] recaptured K(+) and the gel was regenerated again. This process of interconversion between G-ribbon 1(n) and octamer 1(8)·K(+) was well monitored by circular dichroism spectra.

Self-catalytic sol-gel synergetic replication of uniform silica nanotubes using an amino acid amphiphile dynamically growing fibers as template

The aggregation behavior of a novel histidine derivative surfactant N-dodecanoyl-L-histidine (DHis) in aqueous solution was investigated. By mixing with cationic/anionic surfactant, an interesting phase transition over time from transparent homogeneous solution to jelly and finally to fibrous floccules was observed with aggregates growth taken place in the systems. Making use of the growing fibrous structures in the DHis/DTEAB and DHis/SDS systems as surface charge tunable dynamic template, we achieved sol-gel replication of silica and titania nanotubes in mild conditions, respectively. The possible mechanism underlying the formation of silica nanotubes was proved to be synergistically self-catalyzed hydrolysis and condensation of silica precursors depositing on the template surface. In particular, by optimizing the sol-gel process, silica nanotubes with tunable sizes in diameter and uniform wall thickness could be obtained in high yield. The large specific surface area and peculiar photoluminescence property of the silica nanomaterials indicated that the synthetic nanotubes were well-defined in both morphology and physical properties. Importantly, this fibrous aggregates could be universally used in opposite charged inorganic precursors to accomplish inorganic oxide nanotubes via sol-gel replication process, which may provide a general route for the construction of one-dimensional nanostructures in aqueous media.

Influence of double hydrogen bonds and alkyl chains on the gelation of nonchiral polyurethane model compounds: sheets, eaves trough, tubes and oriented fibers

We describe the gelation, upon self-assembly of a series of nonchiral molecules, resulting in tubular morphology of the fibers. These are biscarbamates, which are model compounds for polyurethanes with two hydrogen bonding groups separated by a (CH(2))(6) spacer and symmetrically substituted with alkyl chains on either side varying in length from C(6) to C(18). Upon gelation, these molecules form a sheet initially. The sheets then tend to wrap, leading to tubules. Those with partial wrapping resemble eaves troughs. With the predominant growth along the hydrogen bonding direction, the energy of interaction between the molecules along this direction would be more dominant than just the van der Waals interaction in the other two, leading to asymmetry of interaction in the sheet. We rationalize such tube formation in this case on the basis of the theories [Schnur, J. M.; Ratna, B. R.; Selinger, J. V.; Singh, A.; Jyothi, G.; Easwaran, K. R. K. Science, 1994, 264, 945. Schnur, J. M. Science, 1993, 262, 166. McKierman, R. L.; Heintz, A. M.; Hsu, S. L.; Gido, S. P.; Penelle, J. Polym. Mater. Sci. Eng. 2001, 84, 416.] which were developed for amphiphilic mono and bilayers, which state that these bilayers are not at their minimal energy when they are flat, and prefer a bent state. The gelation behavior of this series with double hydrogen bond is compared with the monocarbamates with a single hydrogen bonding motif [Moniruzzaman, M.; Sundararajan, P. R. Langmuir 2005, 21, 3802.]. We attribute the tendency toward both gelation and crystallization in some cases to the competing contributions of the hydrogen bond and van der Waals interactions between the long alkyl side chains. Oriented fibers for X-ray diffraction were obtained by simply using a magnetic stir bar during gelation. It is also found that the solvents that gel with diureas [van Esch, J.; Kellogg, R. M.; Feringa, B. L. Tetrahedron Lett. 1997, 38, 281] also form gels with biscarbamates. While the biscarbamates with even number of CH(2) groups in the side chain form short fibers, one with (CH(2))(9) side group formed long fibers characteristic of organo gels. In addition, when this odd side chain biscarbamate was mixed with one having a (CH(2))(8) side group, the gelation led to long fibers, following the sergeant and soldier principle.

Self-assembly of two-component gels: stoichiometric control and component selection

Two-component systems capable of self-assembling into soft gel-phase materials are of considerable interest due to their tunability and versatility. This paper investigates two-component gels based on a combination of a L-lysine-based dendron and a rigid diamine spacer (1,4-diaminobenzene or 1,4-diaminocyclohexane). The networked gelator was investigated using thermal measurements, circular dichroism, NMR spectroscopy and small angle neutron scattering (SANS) giving insight into the macroscopic properties, nanostructure and molecular-scale organisation. Surprisingly, all of these techniques confirmed that irrespective of the molar ratio of the components employed, the "solid-like" gel network always consisted of a 1:1 mixture of dendron/diamine. Additionally, the gel network was able to tolerate a significant excess of diamine in the "liquid-like" phase before being disrupted. In the light of this observation, we investigated the ability of the gel network structure to evolve from mixtures of different aromatic diamines present in excess. We found that these two-component gels assembled in a component-selective manner, with the dendron preferentially recognising 1,4-diaminobenzene (>70 %), when similar competitor diamines (1,2- and 1,3-diaminobenzene) are present. Furthermore, NMR relaxation measurements demonstrated that the gel based on 1,4-diaminobenzene was better able to form a selective ternary complex with pyrene than the gel based on 1,4-diaminocyclohexane, indicative of controlled and selective pi-pi interactions within a three-component assembly. As such, the results in this paper demonstrate how component selection processes in two-component gel systems can control hierarchical self-assembly.

Novel boron nitride hollow nanoribbons

Novel BN hollow nanoribbons (BNHNRs) were fabricated by a simple ZnS nanoribbon templating method. Such BNHNRs have a distinct structure and show unique optical properties, as demonstrated from Raman, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, UV-vis spectroscopy, and cathodoluminescence spectroscopy, when compared with other forms of BN nanostructures. With high crystallinity, the BNHNRs exhibit an extraordinary ultraviolet CL emission at 5.33 eV. Such a property is highly advantageous for optoelectronic applications, particularly in the ultraviolet region, such as blue lasing and light emitting diodes. This templating method has also been extended to synthesize other hollow nanostructures such as boron carbonitride. This study represents a new methodology for fabricating hollow nanostructures with defined crystallinity and unique optical properties.

Metastable two-component gel-exploring the gel-crystal interface

This paper reports a two-component system in which molecular recognition rapidly leads to the formation of a homogeneous fibrillar gel that, over a period of hours, aggregates via fibre-fibre interactions to yield microcrystals--providing insight into the relationship between nanoscale gels and microscale crystals.

Self-assembly of versatile tubular-like In(2)O(3) nanostructures

Versatile indium oxide tubular nanostructures (well-aligned nanotube arrays, flower-like tubular structures, and square nanotubes) were fabricated by a facile and reliable chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique, taking advantage of the self-assembly property and substrate-induced epitaxial growth mechanism. The technique has a few advantages, such as low growth temperature, nonexistence of catalyst, template-free synthesis, direct bonding to the semiconductor substrates, etc. This strategy might extend the approach of synthesizing desirable nanostructures of other important low-melting metal oxides for potential applications.