Toward Chemotactic Supramolecular Nanoparticles: From Autonomous Surface Motion Following Specific Chemical Gradients to Multivalency-Controlled Disassembly.

ABSTRACT: Nature designs chemotactic supramolecular structures that can selectively bind specific groups present on surfaces, autonomously scan them moving along density gradients, and react once a critical concentration is encountered. Since such properties are key in many biological functions, these also offer inspirations for designing artificial systems capable of similar bioinspired autonomous behaviors. One approach is to use soft molecular units that self-assemble in an aqueous solution generating nanoparticles (NPs) that display specific chemical groups on their surface, enabling multivalent interactions with complementarily functionalized surfaces. However, a first challenge is to explore the behavior of these assemblies at sufficiently high-resolution to gain insights on the molecular fact

SUBMITTER: Lionello C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8552489 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature