Search results for "Supramolecular"

Self-instructed condensation of amino acids and the origin of biological information

1984

In contemporary cells biological information is largely stored in nucleic acids. Therefore, a prerequisite in many theories on the origin of cellular life is the pre-existence of self-replicating polynucleotides that had to be formed by abiotic processes on the prebiotic Earth. It is usually assumed that the spontaneous synthesis of a self-replicating polynucleotide could take place readily. However, serious stereochemical obstacles exist which make such a synthesis extremely improbable. Amino acids, on the other hand, which are abundantly formed in prebiotic simulation experiments, are relatively easily polymerized to macromolecules (protoproteins) that share with modern proteins many prop…

Hydrophilic and hydrophobic copolymers of a polyasparthylhydrazide bearing positive charges as vector for gene therapy

2008

BACKGROUND: The design of polymeric vectors for gene delivery provided with specific properties is one of the most critical aspects for a successful gene therapy. These polymers should be biocompatible as well as able to carry efficiently DNA to target tissues and to transfect it into cells. RESULTS: The formation of complexes of poly[(α,β-asparthylhydrazide)–poly(ethylene glycol)] and poly[(α,β-asparthylhydrazide)–hexadecylamine] copolymers functionalised with glycidyltrimethylammonium chloride (PAHy–PEG-GTA and PAHy–C16-GTA, respectively) with DNA was studied. The effects of the introduction of hydrophilic (PEG) or hydrophobic (C16) moieties on the chains of PAHy–GTA copolymers, such as t…

Derivatives of (-)-Isosteviol with Expanded Ring D and Various Oxygen Functionalities

2012

(–)-Isosteviol is a unique ex-chiral-pool building block that is readily available. Both functional groups are aligned in a concave manner. The methyl moiety on the backbone also points in this direction, creating a strong asymmetric environment close to these functional groups. The slightly divergent orientation of the keto and carboxy functions limits its use in the construction of supramolecular architectures as optically pure divalent building blocks. By selective transformations, ring D of (–)-isosteviol can be expanded and equipped with oxygen-containing functionalities, providing a variety of useful and rigid building blocks with defined stereochemistry.

Inside Cover: A Self-Assembled M8L6 Cubic Cage that Selectively Encapsulates Large Aromatic Guests (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 15/2011)

2011

Cover Picture: Achieving Strong Positive Cooperativity through Activating Weak Non‐Covalent Interactions (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 3/2018)

2018

Cyclodextrins in Polymer Synthesis: Supramolecular Cyclodextrin Complexes of Pyrrole and 3,4-Ethylenedioxythiophene and Their Oxidative Polymerization

2000

Tuneable pH-regulated supramolecular copolymerisation by mixing mismatched dendritic peptide comonomers

2015

Charged phenylalanine-rich dendritic peptides form highly stable and pH-switchable rod-like supramolecular copolymers, when co-assembled with a matching oppositely charged dendritic comonomer. Here, we demonstrate that by mismatching a strong with a weak β-sheet encoded comonomer, both the stability and the pH-triggered disassembly of the copolymers shifts drastically from pH 4.2 to biologically relevant pH 5.8.

Binding abilities of new cyclodextrin-cucurbituril supramolecular hosts

2015

Various combined techniques (UV–vis spectrophotometry, isothermal titration calorimetry, thermogravimetry, ESI-MS mass spectrometry, polarimetry and 1H NMR spectroscopy) were used in order to study the interaction between a new combined supramolecular host, namely a bow-tie-structured cyclodextrin–cucurbituril association solely held by non-covalent interactions, and a suitably selected guest, namely the N-(p-nitrophenyl)-1,8-diaminooctane hydrochloride. In particular, the use of different techniques highlighted the peculiar features of the possible host–guest supramolecular interactions under different concentration conditions.

Microwave-assisted synthesis of novel cyclodextrin–cucurbituril complexes

2011

Microwave irradiation was successfully used in order to obtain stable supramolecular aggregates between cyclodextrins and cucurbiturils, without the participation of any long-chain common ‘molecular thread’ guest. These aggregates were characterised by means of various different techniques, namely NMR, thermogravimetry, polarimetry and ESI-MS. Cross-analysis of experimental data allowed us to obtain insights on the stoichiometries of the composites and their thermal stabilities. The possible structures of the composites are briefly discussed, as well as the actual nature of their intrinsic stability.

Selective recognition of aromatic hydrocarbons by endo-functionalized molecular tubes via C/N-H⋅⋅⋅π interactions

2018

Abstract Molecular recognition of aromatic hydrocarbons by four endo -functionalized molecular tubes has been studied by 1 H NMR spectroscopy, computational methods, and single crystal X-ray crystallography. The binding selectivity is rationalized by invoking shape complementarity and dipole alignment. The non-covalent interactions are proved to predominantly be C/N-H⋅⋅⋅ π interactions.