Can simple 'molecular' corrections outperform projector augmented-wave density functional theory in the prediction of 35 Cl electric field gradient tensor parameters for chlorine-containing crystalline systems?

Many-body expansion (MBE) fragment approaches have been applied to accurately compute nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) parameters in crystalline systems. Recent examples demonstrate that electric field gradient (EFG) tensor parameters can be accurately calculated for 14 N and 17 O. A key additional development is the simple molecular correction (SMC) approach, which uses two one-body fragment (i.e., isolated molecule) calculations to adjust NMR parameter values established using 'benchmark' projector augmented-wave (PAW) density functional theory (DFT) values. Here, we apply a SMC using the hybrid PBE0 exchange-correlation (XC) functional to see if this can improve the accuracy of calculated 35 Cl EFG tensor parameters. We selected eight organic and two inorganic crystal structures and considered 15 chlorine sites. We find that this SMC improves the accuracy of computed values for both the 35 Cl quadrupolar coupling constant (CQ ) and the asymmetry parameter ( η Q ) by approximately 30% compared with benchmark PAW DFT values. We also assessed a SMC that offers local improvements not only in terms of the quality of the XC functional but simultaneously in the quality of the description of relativistic effects via the inclusion of spin-orbit effects. As the inorganic systems considered contain heavy atoms bonded to the chlorine atoms, we find further improvements in the accuracy of calculated 35 Cl EFG tensor parameters when both a hybrid functional and spin-orbit effects are included in the SMC. On the contrary, for chlorine-containing organics, the inclusion of spin-orbit relativistic effects using a SMC does not improve the accuracy of computed 35 Cl EFG tensor parameters.

Bioinspired Amino Acid Based Materials in Bionanotechnology: From Minimalistic Building Blocks and Assembly Mechanism to Applications

Inspired by natural hierarchical self-assembly of proteins and peptides, amino acids, as the basic building units, have been shown to self-assemble to form highly ordered structures through supramolecular interactions. The fabrication of functional biomaterials comprised of extremely simple biomolecules has gained increasing interest due to the advantages of biocompatibility, easy functionalization, and structural modularity. In particular, amino acid based assemblies have shown attractive physical characteristics for various bionanotechnology applications. Herein, we propose a review paper to summarize the design strategies as well as research advances of amino acid based supramolecular assemblies as smart functional materials. We first briefly introduce bioinspired reductionist design strategies and assembly mechanism for amino acid based molecular assembly materials through noncovalent interactions in condensed states, including self-assembly, metal ion mediated coordination assembly, and coassembly. In the following part, we provide an overview of the properties and functions of amino acid based materials toward applications in nanotechnology and biomedicine. Finally, we give an overview of the remaining challenges and future perspectives on the fabrication of amino acid based supramolecular biomaterials with desired properties. We believe that this review will promote the prosperous development of innovative bioinspired functional materials formed by minimalistic building blocks.

Phenylalanine-based fibrillar systems

Phenylketonuria (PKU) is an inborn metabolic disorder characterized by excess accumulation of phenylalanine (Phe) and its fibril formation, resulting in progressive intellectual disability. Several research groups have approached from various directions to understand the formation of toxic amyloid fibrils from the essential amino acid Phe. Different parameters like the nature of the solvent, pH, Phe concentration, temperature, etc. influence the fibril formation kinetics. In this article, we have summarized all major findings regarding the formation of Phe-based fibrils in aqueous and organic media and discussed how non-covalent interactions are involved in the self-assembly process using spectroscopic and microscopic techniques. The toxicity of Phe-based fibrils is compared with other neurodegenerative peptides. It is noted that the Phe-based fibrils can also induce various globular proteins into toxic fibrils. Later, we discuss the different approaches to inhibit fibril formation and reduce its toxicity. The presence of polyphenolic compounds, drugs, amino acids, nanoparticles, metal ions, crown ethers, and others showed a remarkable inhibitory effect on fibril formation. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first-ever etymological analysis of the Phe-fibrillar system and its inhibition to create a strong database against PKU.

Fluorine Effect in the Gelation Ability of Low Molecular Weight Gelators

The three gelators presented in this work (Boc-D-Phe-L-Oxd-OH F0, Boc-D-F₁Phe-L-Oxd-OH F1 and Boc-D-F₂Phe-L-Oxd-OH F2) share the same scaffold and differ in the number of fluorine atoms linked to the aromatic ring of phenylalanine. They have been applied to the preparation of gels in 0.5% or 1.0% w/v concentration, using three methodologies: solvent switch, pH change and calcium ions addition. The general trend is an increased tendency to form structured materials from F0 to F1 and F2. This property ends up in the formation of stronger materials when fluorine atoms are present. Some samples, generally formed by F1 or F2 in 0.5% w/v concentration, show high transparency but low mechanical properties. Two gels, both containing fluorine atoms, show increased stiffness coupled with high transparency. The biocompatibility of the gelators was assessed exposing them to fibroblast cells and demonstrated that F1 and F2 are not toxic to cells even in high concentration, while F0 is not toxic to cells only in a low concentration. In conclusion, the presence of even only one fluorine atom improves all the gelators properties: the gelation ability of the compound, the rheological properties and the transparency of the final materials and the gelator biocompatibility.

Acid-responsive fibrillation and urease-assisted defibrillation of phenylalanine: a transient supramolecular hydrogel

The aggregation of proteins and peptides into fibrils is associated with many neurodegenerative diseases in humans, including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and non-neurological type-II diabetes. A better understanding of the fibril formation process and defibrillation using biochemical tools is highly important for therapeutics. Under physiological conditions, acidic pH promotes the formation of toxic fibrils. Here, a mimic of living systems has been achieved by the acid-responsive assembly of benzyloxycarbonyl-l-phenylalanine to fibrils, as well as the urease-assisted disassembly of the said fibrils. The simultaneous incorporation of the two triggers helped to prepare a transient supramolecular hydrogel from benzyloxycarbonyl-l-phenylalanine-entangled fibrils with a high degree of control over the self-assembly lifetime and mechanical properties. Further, under acidic pH, the compound formed the O-HO[double bond, length as m-dash]C hydrogen-bonded dimer. The dimers were further self-assembled by intermolecular N-HO[double bond, length as m-dash]C hydrogen bonds and π-π stacking interactions to form fibrils with high mechanical properties, from this simple molecule. However, the self-assembly process is dynamic. Hence, the in situ-generated NH3 uniformly increased the pH and led to the homogeneous disassembly of the fibrils. Thus, this report provides a valuable approach to defibrillation.

Self-assembling behaviour of a modified aromatic amino acid in competitive medium

Aromatic amino acid, specifically phenylalanine (Phe), is one of the most studied building blocks in peptide synthesis due to its importance in biology. It is reported in the literature that Phe-containing peptides have a high tendency to form different self-assembled materials due to efficient aromatic-aromatic interactions. In this article, we have tuned the supramolecular interactions of phenylalanine by making it electron-deficient upon introduction of the nitro group in the ring. The presence of the nitro group has a profound influence on the self-assembly process. It has been observed that 4-nitrophenylalanine (4NP) is a highly efficient gelator compared with the native phenylalanine in DMSO solvent in terms of minimum gelation concentration and it forms hydrogen bonding mediated crystals in water. The change of self-assembling patterns of 4NP in these solvents was studied using X-ray diffraction, UV-Vis spectroscopy, FE-SEM and other techniques. With the help of different experimental data and density functional theory (DFT), we have simulated the theoretical structure of 4NP in DMSO. The theoretical structure of 4NP in DMSO is different compared with that of crystals in water. We then studied the self-assembly process of 4NP in the mixed solvent of DMSO (polar aprotic) and water (polar protic). Different competitive non-covalent interactions of solvents as well as the ratio of the solvent mixture guide the final self-assembly state of 4NP.

Halobenzyl alcohols as structurally simple organogelators

We report 11 simple halobenzyl alcohols, each comprising of only 16 atoms, as organogelators for aliphatic hydrocarbon solvents. Their self-assembly is similar in both gel and crystal states and involve OH⋯O, CH⋯O, CH⋯π, O⋯X, CH⋯X and X⋯X interactions.