Helical molecular duplex strands: multiple hydrogen-bond-mediated assembly of self-complementary oligomeric hydrazide derivatives

Effect of Solvent on the Optical Rotation of Azatryptophan Derivatives

Chirally pure enantiomers of differently protected 7-azatryptophan derivatives (R-3c, S-3c, R-3i, S-3i, R-3m, S-3m, R-3aa, and S-3aa) were synthesized, which showed solvent-dependent optical rotation. The obtained results not only exhibited changes in the values but also showed the variation in sign (- or +) with the different solvents studied. The change in optical rotation value was essentially attributed to the electron-donating property, which can be correlated to the donor number of the solvents. There are two types of hydrogen bonds, intramolecular (i.e., form within the structure) and intermolecular (i.e., form with external groups such as solvents). These hydrogen bonds are responsible for the value and sign variations, and 1H NMR experiments were used to further characterize them. The NMR data suggested that hydrogen bond formation is occurring between the Fmoc NH group vicinal to the chiral center and donor group of the corresponding solvent.

Sequence-selective duplex formation and template effect in recognition-encoded oligoanilines

A new family of duplex-forming recognition encoded oligomers, capable of sequence selective duplex formation and template directed synthesis, was developed. Monomers equipped with both amine and aldehyde groups were functionalized with 2-trifluoromethylphenol or phosphine oxide as H-bond recognition units. Duplex formation and assembly properties of homo- and hetero-oligomers were studied by 19F and 1H NMR experiments in chloroform. The designed backbone prevents the undesired 1,2-folding allowing sequence-selective duplex formation, and the stability of the antiparallel duplex is 3-fold higher than the parallel arrangement. Dynamic combinatorial chemistry was exploited for the templated synthesis of complementary oligomers, showing that an aniline dimer can template the formation of the complementary imine. The key role of the H-bond recognition confers to the system the ability to discriminate a mutated donor monomer incapable of H-bonding. Sequence selective duplex formation combined with the template effect makes this system an attractive target for further studies.

Recognition-Encoded Synthetic Information Molecules

ConspectusNucleic acids represent a unique class of highly programmable molecules, where the sequence of monomer units incorporated into the polymer chain can be read through duplex formation with a complementary oligomer. It should be possible to encode information in synthetic oligomers as a sequence of different monomer units in the same way that the four different bases program information into DNA and RNA. In this Account, we describe our efforts to develop synthetic duplex-forming oligomers composed of sequences of two complementary recognition units that can base-pair in organic solvents through formation of a single H-bond, and we outline some general guidelines for the design of new sequence-selective recognition systems.The design strategy has focused on three interchangeable modules that control recognition, synthesis, and backbone geometry. For a single H-bond to be effective as a base-pairing interaction, very polar recognition units, such as phosphine oxide and phenol, are required. Reliable base-pairing in organic solvents requires a nonpolar backbone, so that the only polar functional groups present are the donor and acceptor sites on the two recognition units. This criterion limits the range of functional groups that can be produced in the synthesis of oligomers. In addition, the chemistry used for polymerization should be orthogonal to the recognition units. Several compatible high yielding coupling chemistries that are suitable for the synthesis of recognition-encoded polymers are explored. Finally, the conformational properties of the backbone module play an important role in determining the supramolecular assembly pathways that are accessible to mixed sequence oligomers.Almost all complementary homo-oligomers will form duplexes provided the product of the association constant for formation of a base-pair and the effective molarity for the intramolecular base-pairing interactions that zip up the duplex is significantly greater than one. For these systems, the structure of the backbone does not play a major role, and the effective molarities for duplex formation tend to fall in the range 10-100 mM for both rigid and flexible backbones. For mixed sequences, intramolecular H-bonding interactions lead to folding. The competition between folding and duplex formation depends critically on the conformational properties of the backbone, and high-fidelity sequence-selective duplex formation is only observed for backbones that are sufficiently rigid to prevent short-range folding between bases that are close in sequence. The final section of the Account highlights the prospects for functional properties, other than duplex formation, that might be encoded with sequence.

Duplex vs. folding: tuning the self-assembly of synthetic recognition-encoded aniline oligomers

One of the challenges in the realization of synthetic oligomers capable of sequence-selective duplex formation is intramolecular folding interaction between complementary recognition units. To assess whether complementary hetero-oligomers can assemble into high fidelity duplex structures, the competing folding equilibria must be carefully considered. A family of recognition-encoded aniline oligomers were assembled via reductive amination of dianiline linkers and dialdehyde monomers, which were equipped with either a 2-trifluoromethylphenol or a phosphine oxide H-bond recognition unit. To test the possibility of 1,2-folding in mixed sequence oligomers, the self-assembly properties of the homo- and hetero-dimers were characterised by ¹⁹F and ¹H NMR titration and dilution experiments in toluene and in chloroform. Three different systems were investigated with variations in the steric bulk around the H-bond acceptor unit and the length of the dianiline linker. For two systems, the hetero-dimers folded with intramolecular H-bonding in the monomeric state, reducing stability of the intermolecular duplex by two to three orders of magnitude compared with the corresponding homo-oligomers. However, the use of a long rigid linker as the backbone connecting two monomer units successfully prevents 1,2-folding and leads to the formation of a stable mixed sequence duplex in toluene.

Folding and duplex formation in mixed sequence recognition-encoded m-phenylene ethynylene polymers

Oligomers equipped with complementary recognition units have the potential to encode and express chemical information in the same way as nucleic acids. The supramolecular assembly properties of m-phenylene ethynylene polymers equipped with H-bond donor (D = phenol) and H-bond acceptor (A = phosphine oxide) side chains have been investigated in chloroform solution. Polymerisation of a bifunctional monomer in the presence of a monofunctional chain stopper was used for the one pot synthesis of families of m-phenylene ethynylene polymers with sequences ADnA or DAnD (n = 1-5), which were separated by chromatography. All of the oligomers self-associate due to intermolecular H-bonding interactions, but intramolecular folding of the monomeric single strands can be studied in dilute solution. NMR and fluorescence spectroscopy show that the 3-mers ADA and DAD do not fold, but there are intramolecular H-bonding interactions for all of the longer sequences. Nevertheless, 1 : 1 mixtures of sequence complementary oligomers all form stable duplexes. Duplex stability was quantified using DMSO denaturation experiments, which show that the association constant for duplex formation increases by an order of magnitude for every base-pairing interaction added to the chain, from 103 M-1 for ADA·DAD to 105 M-1 for ADDDA·DAAAD. Intramolecular folding is the major pathway that competes with duplex formation between recognition-encoded oligomers and limits the fidelity of sequence-selective assembly. The experimental approach described here provides a practical strategy for rapid evaluation of suitability for the development of programmable synthetic polymers.

High-Fidelity Sequence-Selective Duplex Formation by Recognition-Encoded Melamine Oligomers

Melamine oligomers composed of repeating triazine-piperidine units and equipped with phenol and phosphine oxide side-chains form H-bonded duplexes. The melamine backbone provides sufficient rigidity to prevent intramolecular folding of oligomers up to three recognition units in length, leading to reliable duplex formation between sequence complementary oligomers. NMR spectroscopy and isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) were used to characterize the self-assembly properties of the oligomers. For length-complementary homo-oligomers, duplex formation in toluene is characterized by an increase in stability of an order of magnitude for every base-pair added to the chain. NMR spectra of dilute solutions of the AD 2-mer show that intramolecular H-bonding between neighboring recognition units on the chain (1,2-folding) does not occur. NMR spectra of dilute solutions of both the AAD and the ADD 3-mer show that 1,3-folding does not take place either. ITC was used to characterize interactions between all pairwise combinations of the six different 3-mer sequences, and the sequence complementary duplexes are approximately an order of magnitude more stable than duplexes with a single base mismatch. High-fidelity duplex formation combined with the synthetic accessibility of the monomer building blocks makes these systems attractive targets for further investigation.

The Diverse World of Foldamers: Endless Possibilities of Self-Assembly

Different classes of foldamers, which are synthetic oligomers that adopt well-defined conformations in solution, have been the subject of extensive studies devoted to the elucidation of the forces driving their secondary structures and their potential as bioactive molecules. Regardless of the backbone type (peptidic or abiotic), the most important features of foldamers are the high stability, easy predictability and tunability of their folding, as well as the possibility to endow them with enhanced biological functions, with respect to their natural counterparts, by the correct choice of monomers. Foldamers have also recently started playing a starring role in the self-assembly of higher-order structures. In this review, selected articles will be analyzed to show the striking number of self-assemblies obtained for foldamers with different backbones, which will be analyzed in order of increasing complexity. Starting from the simplest self-associations in solution (e.g., dimers of β-strands or helices, bundles, interpenetrating double and multiple helices), the formation of monolayers, vesicles, fibers, and eventually nanostructured solid tridimensional morphologies will be subsequently described. The experimental techniques used in the structural investigation, and in the determination of the driving forces and mechanisms underlying the self-assemblies, will be systematically reported. Where applicable, examples of biomimetic self-assembled foldamers and their interactions with biological components will be described.

Supramolecular catalysis by recognition-encoded oligomers: discovery of a synthetic imine polymerase

All key chemical transformations in biology are catalysed by linear oligomers. Catalytic properties could be programmed into synthetic oligomers in the same way as they are programmed into proteins, and an example of the discovery of emergent catalytic properties in a synthetic oligomer is reported. Dynamic combinatorial chemistry experiments designed to study the templating of a recognition-encoded oligomer by the complementary sequence have uncovered an unexpected imine polymerase activity. Libraries of equilibrating imines were formed by coupling diamine linkers with monomer building blocks composed of dialdehydes functionalised with either a trifluoromethyl phenol (D) or phosphine oxide (A) H-bond recognition unit. However, addition of the AAA trimer to a mixture of the phenol dialdehyde and the diamine linker did not template the formation of the DDD oligo-imine. Instead, AAA was found to be a catalyst, leading to rapid formation of long oligomers of D. AAA catalysed a number of different imine formation reactions, but a complementary phenol recognition group on the aldehyde reaction partner is an essential requirement. Competitive inhibition by an unreactive phenol confirmed the role of H-bonding in substrate recognition. AAA accelerates the rate of imine formation in toluene by a factor of 20. The kinetic parameters for this enzyme-like catalysis are estimated as 1 × 10^-3 s^-1 for k _cat and the dissociation constant for substrate binding is 300 μM. The corresponding DDD trimer was found to catalyse oligomerisation the phosphine oxide dialdehyde with the diamine linker, suggesting an important role for the backbone in catalysis. This unexpected imine polymerase activity in a duplex-forming synthetic oligomer suggests that there are many interesting processes to be discovered in the chemistry of synthetic recognition-encoded oligomers that will parallel those found in natural biopolymers.

Determination of association constants and FRET in hydrazide-based molecular duplex strands

The association constants for the hydrazide-based molecular duplex strands can be determined via monitoring the pyrene excimer emission. By mixing pyrene and perylene labelled oligomers, supramolecular substitution reactions induced efficient FRET.

Two-component assembly of recognition-encoded oligomers that form stable H-bonded duplexes

Imine chemistry was used to assemble oligomers displaying phenol and phosphine oxide side chains that selectively base-pair to give duplexes, which are stable in chloroform solution.

A new family of recognition-encoded oligomers that form stable duplexes in chloroform have been prepared. Monomer building blocks composed of dialdehydes functionalised with either a trifluoromethylphenol or phosphine oxide H-bond recognition unit were prepared. The dialdehydes were coupled with diamines by imine formation and then reduction to give homo-oligomers between one and three recognition units in length. Duplex formation was characterised by ¹⁹F and ¹H NMR titration experiments in toluene and in chloroform. For duplexes formed between length complementary H-bond donor and acceptor homo-oligomers, an order of magnitude increase in stability was observed for every base-pair added to the duplex in chloroform. The effective molarity for the intramolecular H-bonds responsible for zipping up the duplex is 30 mM, which results in the fully assembled duplex in all cases. The uniform increase in duplex stability with oligomer length suggests that the backbone structure and geometry is likely to be compatible with the formation of extended duplexes in longer oligomers.

Building blocks for recognition-encoded oligoesters that form H-bonded duplexes

A long-short base-pairing scheme hinders intramolecular folding and allows the use of flexible backbones in duplex-forming oligomers.

Competition from intramolecular folding is a major challenge in the design of synthetic oligomers that form intermolecular duplexes in a sequence-selective manner. One strategy is to use very rigid backbones that prevent folding, but this design can prejudice duplex formation if the geometry is not exactly right. The alternative approach found in nucleic acids is to use bases (or recognition units) that have different dimensions. A long-short base-pairing scheme makes folding geometrically difficult and is compatible with the flexible backbones that are required to guarantee duplex formation. A monomer building block equipped with a long hydrogen bond donor (phenol, D) recognition unit and a monomer building block equipped with a short hydrogen bond acceptor (phosphine oxide, A) recognition unit were prepared with differentially protected alcohol and carboxylic acid groups. These compounds were used to synthesise the homo and hetero-sequence 2-mers AA, DD and AD. ¹⁹F and ³¹P NMR experiments were used to characterize the assembly properties of these compounds in toluene solution. AA and DD form a stable doubly-hydrogen-bonded duplex with an effective molarity of 20 mM for formation of the second intramolecular hydrogen bond. AD forms a duplex of similar stability. There is no evidence of intramolecular folding in the monomeric state of this compound, which shows that the long-short base-pairing scheme is effective. The ester coupling chemistry used here is an attractive method for the synthesis of long oligomers, and the properties of the 2-mers indicate that this molecular architecture should give longer mixed sequence oligomers that show high fidelity sequence-selective duplex formation.

H-Bonded Duplexes based on a Phenylacetylene Backbone

Complementary phenylacetylene oligomers equipped with phenol and phosphine oxide recognition sites form stable multiply H-bonded duplexes in toluene solution. Oligomers were prepared by Sonogashira coupling of diiodobenzene and bis-acetylene building blocks in the presence of monoacetylene chain terminators. The product mixtures were separated by reverse phase preparative high-pressure liquid chromatography to give a series of pure oligomers up to seven recognition units in length. Duplex formation between length complementary homo-oligomers was demonstrated by 31P NMR denaturation experiments using dimethyl sulfoxide as a competing H-bond acceptor. The denaturation experiments were used to determine the association constants for duplex formation, which increase by nearly 2 orders of magnitude for every phenol-phosphine oxide base-pair added. These experiments show that the phenylacetylene backbone supports formation of extended duplexes with multiple cooperative intermolecular H-bonding interactions, and together with previous studies on the mixed sequence phenylacetylene 2-mer, suggest that this supramolecular architecture is a promising candidate for the development of synthetic information molecules that parallel the properties of nucleic acids.

Backbone conformation affects duplex initiation and duplex propagation in hybridisation of synthetic H-bonding oligomers

Synthetic oligomers equipped with complementary H-bond donor and acceptor side chains form multiply H-bonded duplexes in organic solvents. Comparison of the duplex forming properties of four families of oligomers with different backbones shows that formation of an extended duplex with three or four inter-strand H-bonds is more challenging than formation of complexes that make only two H-bonds. The stabilities of 1 : 1 complexes formed between length complementary homo-oligomers equipped with either phosphine oxide or phenol recognition modules were measured in toluene. When the backbone is very flexible (pentane-1,5-diyl thioether), the stability increases uniformly by an order of magnitude for each additional base-pair added to the duplex: the effective molarities for formation of the first intramolecular H-bond (duplex initiation) and subsequent intramolecular H-bonds (duplex propagation) are similar. This flexible system is compared with three more rigid backbones that are isomeric combinations of an aromatic ring and methylene groups. One of the rigid systems behaves in exactly the same way as the flexible backbone, but the other two do not. For these systems, the effective molarity for formation of the first intramolecular H-bond is the same as that found for the other two backbones, but additional H-bonds are not formed between the longer oligomers. The effective molarities are too low for duplex propagation in these systems, because the oligomer backbones cannot adopt conformations compatible with formation of an extended duplex.

Sequence-Selective Formation of Synthetic H-Bonded Duplexes

Oligomers equipped with a sequence of phenol and pyridine N-oxide groups form duplexes via H-bonding interactions between these recognition units. Reductive amination chemistry was used to synthesize all possible 3-mer sequences: AAA, AAD, ADA, DAA, ADD, DAD, DDA, and DDD. Pairwise interactions between the oligomers were investigated using NMR titration and dilution experiments in toluene. The measured association constants vary by 3 orders of magnitude (102 to 105 M-1). Antiparallel sequence-complementary oligomers generally form more stable complexes than mismatched duplexes. Mismatched duplexes that have an excess of H-bond donors are stabilized by the interaction of two phenol donors with one pyridine N-oxide acceptor. Oligomers that have a H-bond donor and acceptor on the ends of the chain can fold to form intramolecular H-bonds in the free state. The 1,3-folding equilibrium competes with duplex formation and lowers the stability of duplexes involving these sequences. As a result, some of the mismatch duplexes are more stable than some of the sequence-complementary duplexes. However, the most stable mismatch duplexes contain DDD and compete with the most stable sequence-complementary duplex, AAA·DDD, so in mixtures that contain all eight sequences, sequence-complementary duplexes dominate. Even higher fidelity sequence selectivity can be achieved if alternating donor-acceptor sequences are avoided.

H-Bond Self-Assembly: Folding versus Duplex Formation

Linear oligomers equipped with complementary H-bond donor (D) and acceptor (A) sites can interact via intermolecular H-bonds to form duplexes or fold via intramolecular H-bonds. These competing equilibria have been quantified using NMR titration and dilution experiments for seven systems featuring different recognition sites and backbones. For all seven architectures, duplex formation is observed for homo-sequence 2-mers (AA·DD) where there are no competing folding equilibria. The corresponding hetero-sequence AD 2-mers also form duplexes, but the observed self-association constants are strongly affected by folding equilibria in the monomeric states. When the backbone is flexible (five or more rotatable bonds separating the recognition sites), intramolecular H-bonding is favored, and the folded state is highly populated. For these systems, the stability of the AD·AD duplex is 1-2 orders of magnitude lower than that of the corresponding AA·DD duplex. However, for three architectures which have more rigid backbones (fewer than five rotatable bonds), intramolecular interactions are not observed, and folding does not compete with duplex formation. These systems are promising candidates for the development of longer, mixed-sequence synthetic information molecules that show sequence-selective duplex formation.

Homochiral oligomers with highly flexible backbones form stable H-bonded duplexes

Two homochiral building blocks featuring a protected thiol, an alkene and a H-bond recognition unit (phenol or phosphine oxide) have been prepared. Iterative photochemical thiol-ene coupling reactions were used to synthesize oligomers containing 1-4 phosphine oxide and 1-4 phenol recognition sites. Length-complementary H-bond donor and H-bond acceptor oligomers were found to form stable duplexes in toluene. NMR titrations and thermal denaturation experiments show that the association constant and the enthalpy of duplex formation increase significantly for every additional H-bonding unit added to the chain. There is an order of magnitude increase in stability for each additional H-bonding interaction at room temperature indicating that all of the H-bonding sites are fully bound to their complements in the duplexes. The backbone of the thiol-ene duplexes is a highly flexible alkane chain, but this conformational flexibility does not have a negative impact on binding affinity. The average effective molarity for the intramolecular H-bonding interactions that zip up the duplexes is 18 mM. This value is somewhat higher than the EM of 14 mM found for a related family of duplexes, which have the same recognition units but a more rigid backbone prepared using reductive amination chemistry. The flexible thiol-ene AAAA·DDDD duplex is an order of magnitude more stable than the rigid reductive amination AAAA·DDDD duplex. The backbone of the thiol-ene system retains much of its conformational flexibility in the duplex, and these results show that highly flexible molecules can make very stable complexes, provided there is no significant restriction of degrees of freedom on complexation.

Mix and match recognition modules for the formation of H-bonded duplexes

Oligomeric molecules equipped with complementary H-bond recognition sites form stable duplexes in non-polar solvents. The use of a single H-bond between a good H-bond donor and a good H-bond acceptor as the recognition motif appended to a non-polar backbone leads to an architecture with interchangeable recognition alphabets. The interactions of three different families of H-bond acceptor oligomers (pyridine, pyridine N-oxide or phosphine oxide recognition module) with a family of H-bond donor oligomers (phenol recognition module) are compared. All three donor-acceptor combinations form stable duplexes, where the stability of the 1 : 1 complex increases with increasing numbers of recognition modules. The effective molarity for formation of intramolecular H-bonds that lead to zipping up of the duplex (EM) increases with decreasing flexibility of the recognition modules: 14 mM for the phosphine oxides which are connected to the backbone via a flexible linker; 40 mM for the pyridine N-oxides which have three fewer degrees of torsional freedom, and 80 mM for the pyridines where the geometry of the H-bond is more directional. However, the pyridine-phenol H-bond is an order of magnitude weaker than the other two types of H-bond, so overall the pyridine N-oxides form the most stable duplexes with the highest degree of cooperativity. The results show that it is possible to use different recognition motifs with the same duplex architecture, and this makes it possible to tune overall stabilities of the complexes by varying the components.

Mix and match backbones for the formation of H-bonded duplexes

The formation of well-defined supramolecular assemblies involves competition between intermolecular and intramolecular interactions, which is quantified by effective molarity. Formation of a duplex between two oligomers equipped with recognition sites displayed along a non-interacting backbone requires that once one intermolecular interaction has been formed, all subsequent interactions take place in an intramolecular sense. The efficiency of this process is governed by the geometric complementarity and conformational flexibility of the backbone linking the recognition sites. Here we report a series of phosphine oxide H-bond acceptor AA 2-mers and phenol H-bond donor DD 2-mers, where the two recognition sites are connected by isomeric backbone modules that vary in geometry and flexibility. All AA and DD combinations form stable AA·DD duplexes, where two cooperative H-bonds lead to an increase in stability of an order of magnitude compared with the corresponding A·D complexes that can only form one H-bond. For all six possible backbone combinations, the effective molarity for duplex formation is approximately constant (7-20 mM). Thus strict complementarity and high degrees of preorganisation are not required for efficient supramolecular assembly. Provided there is some flexibility, quite different backbone modules can be used interchangeably to construct stable H-bonded duplexes.

Cooperative duplex formation by synthetic H-bonding oligomers

Flexible phenol-phosphine oxide oligomers show promise as a new class of synthetic information molecule.

A series of flexible oligomers equipped with phenol H-bond donors and phosphine oxide H-bond acceptors have been synthesised using reductive amination chemistry. H-bonding interactions between complementary oligomers leads to the formation of double-stranded complexes which were characterised using NMR titrations and thermal denaturation experiments. The stability of the duplex increases by one order of magnitude for every H-bonding group added to the chain. Similarly, the enthalpy change for duplex assembly and the melting temperature for duplex denaturation both increase with increasing chain length. These observations indicate that H-bond formation along the oligomers is cooperative despite the flexible backbone, and the effective molarity for intramolecular H-bond formation (14 mM) is sufficient to propagate the formation of longer duplexes using this approach. The product K EM, which is used to quantify chelate cooperativity is 5, which means that each H-bond is more than 80% populated in the assembled duplex. The modular design of these oligomers represents a general strategy for the design of synthetic information molecules that could potentially encode and replicate chemical information in the same way as nucleic acids.

Quadruply hydrogen-bonded heteroduplexes based on imide and urea units arrayed with ADDA/DAAD sequences

A new class of imide- and urea-based hetero-strands with a quadruple ADDA/DAAD hydrogen-bond array was designed and synthesized from easily accessible starting materials. The molecular recognition between the two different strands depends highly on the substituents and the linker between neighboring hydrogen-bonds, which results in the stability of these heteroduplexes varying from 10(3) to >10(5) M(-1) in apolar solvents. In particular, an increase of the association constant by up to one order of magnitude was observed by derivatizing the ADDA arrays at the termini with electron-withdrawing groups. Molecular modelling of the representative complementary complexes reveals the binding mode of four hydrogen-bond arrays that agrees with the matched pair.

Control self-assembly of hydrazide-based cyclic hexamers: in or out

By moving the alkoxy group on the spacer from position 5 to position 4 to add another protocol for the algorithm for intermolecular and intramolecular hydrogen bonding interactions, highly regioselectivity of noncovalent synthesis of the hydrazide-based cyclic hexamers was achieved: one out of thirteen possible isomeric cyclic hexamers selectively formed and thus precise control of the two hydrazide units in the cyclic hexamers (in or out) was accomplished.

Molecular duplexes with encoded sequences and stabilities

Through specific molecular shapes and repeating polymeric sequences, biomacromolecules encode information about both structure and function. Inspired by DNA molecules, we have conceived a strategy to encode linear molecular strands with sequences that specify intermolecular association, and we and our collaborators have supported this idea through our experimental work. This Account summarizes the design and development of a class of molecular duplexes with programmable hydrogen-bonding sequences and adjustable stabilities. The specific system involves oligoamide strands synthesized from readily available monomeric modules based on standard amide (peptide) chemistry. By covalently linking three types of basic building blocks in different orders, we create oligoamide strands with various arrangements of amide O and H atoms that provide arrays of hydrogen bonding sequences. Because one of the two edges of these molecules presents the sequences of hydrogen-bond donors and acceptors, these oligoamide strands associate via their hydrogen-bonding edges into double-stranded pairs or duplexes. Systematic studies have demonstrated the strict sequence specificity and tunable stability of this system. These structurally simple duplexes exhibit many features associated with DNA sequences such as programmable sequence specificity, shape and hydrogen-bonding complementarity, and cooperativity of multipoint interactions. Capable of specifying intermolecular associations, these duplexes have formed supramolecular structures such as β-sheets and non-covalent block copolymers and have templated chemical reactions. The incorporation of dynamic covalent interactions into these H-bonded duplexes has created association units that undergo sequence-specific association and covalent ligation in both nonpolar solvents and polar media including water. These new association units may facilitate the development of new dynamic covalent structures, and new properties are emerging from these structures. For example, we discovered hydrogen-bonded duplexes that could gelate different organic solvents, and we could tune the gelatinization by adjusting the multiple side chains attached to the duplexes. In addition, we have recently designed duplexes whose formation and dissociation are controlled by changes in external stimuli such as acidity. With their programmable specificity and tunable stability, these molecular duplexes have provided a systematic approach for the association of different structural units. Further development of this system could facilitate the creation of many supramolecular and dynamic covalent structures. Because these duplexes are easily modifiable and information is easily encoded and retrieved, this system may address some of the remaining challenges facing information-storing molecules including self-replication.

Amidourea-based hydrogen-bonded heteroduplexes: structure and assembling selectivity

A new class of multiply hydrogen-bonded heteroduplexes from readily available amidourea derivatives was designed, and their structures and selective assembling behaviors were investigated. Amidourea derivative 3 could selectively assemble with 1 to form a stable heteroduplex via eight intermolecular bifurcated hydrogen bonds, but could not assemble with 2 at all, because of their unique structures and the spacing effect, although 1 and 2 possessed the same hydrogen-bonding sequence. The high stability and selectivity will make the amidourea-based hydrogen-bonded heteroduplexes be potentially applicable in the design of well-defined supramolecular architectures and novel functional materials.

Dimer/tetramer motifs determine amphiphilic hydrazine fibril structures on graphite

Fibril structures are produced at a solvent-graphite interface by self-assembly of custom-designed symmetric and asymmetric amphiphilic benzamide derivatives bearing C(10) aliphatic chains. Scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) studies reveal geometry-dependent internal structures for the elementary fibrils of the two molecules that are distinctly different from known mesophase bulk structures. The structures are described by building-block models based on hydrogen-bonded dimer and tetramer precursors of hydrazines. The closure and growth in length of building units into fibrils takes place through van der Waals forces acting between the dangling alkyl chains. The nanoscale morphology is a consequence of the basic molecular geometry, where it follows that a closure to form a fibril is not always likely for the doubly substituted hydrazine. Therefore, we also observe crystallite formation.

Defining the hydrogen bond: An account (IUPAC Technical Report)

The term “hydrogen bond” has been used in the literature for nearly a century now. While its importance has been realized by physicists, chemists, biologists, and material scientists, there has been a continual debate about what this term means. This debate has intensified following some important experimental results, especially in the last decade, which questioned the basis of the traditional view on hydrogen bonding. Most important among them are the direct experimental evidence for a partial covalent nature and the observation of a blue-shift in stretching frequency following X–H···Y hydrogen bond formation (XH being the hydrogen bond donor and Y being the hydrogen bond acceptor). Considering the recent experimental and theoretical advances, we have proposed a new definition of the hydrogen bond, which emphasizes the need for evidence. A list of criteria has been provided, and these can be used as evidence for the hydrogen bond formation. This list is followed by some characteristics that are observed in typical hydrogen-bonding environments.

Ion-pair induced self-assembly in aqueous solvents

The intriguing advantages of supramolecular chemistry and particularly the application of self-assembly for the construction of defined nanostructures from small, preferably synthetically easily accessible molecules has become a promising area of modern chemistry in the last years. However, the main focus of early work was based on H-bond induced self-assembly which is limited to nonpolar organic solvents. In the past years the field started to shift more and more towards obtaining self-assembling architectures in polar solvents and even water. This tutorial review will discuss some representative examples for self-assembling systems in polar solvents in order to illustrate the different concepts and strategies that can be used. We will also briefly discuss the special properties of water as the ultimate protic solvent from the perspective of a supramolecular chemist to elucidate the challenges that this solvent still poses even today to obtain specific self-assembled nanostructures.

Control of dynamic helicity at the macro- and supramolecular level

In this review, various systems developed in recent years which aim to control dynamic helicity at the macro- and supramolecular level are discussed. The strong interactions between the individual molecular components in these controlled helical assemblies, ranging from columnar aggregates to helical polymers and cholesteric liquid crystals, result in stereoinduction from the molecular level to the level of these macro- and supramolecular helical architectures. Therefore these systems are potentially useful for various applications, including responsive materials and chirality sensors and amplifiers.