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Self-assembly of a layered two-dimensional molecularly woven fabric
An anion and metal ion template is used to form woven polymer patches that are joined together by polymerization into a fully woven, two-dimensional, molecular patchwork.
- David P. August
- , Robert A. W. Dryfe
- & Robert J. Young
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Article |
Tying different knots in a molecular strand
A molecular strand can be knotted and unknotted into three different topologies, depending on the complexing metal ion used (copper or lanthanide or none).
- David A. Leigh
- , Fredrik Schaufelberger
- & Julien Segard
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Article |
Self-assembled poly-catenanes from supramolecular toroidal building blocks
Nanoscale toroids with a high percentage of poly-catenation and radii of up to about 13 nm are kinetically organized using fibrous supramolecular assemblies with intrinsic curvature and a solvent-mixing strategy.
- Sougata Datta
- , Yasuki Kato
- & Shiki Yagai
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Article |
Polymers with controlled assembly and rigidity made with click-functional peptide bundles
Designed tetrameric peptide bundles covalently connected end-to-end yield rigid, semiflexible and kinked chains, as well as hydrogel networks, providing a platform for synthetic biomaterials.
- Dongdong Wu
- , Nairiti Sinha
- & Darrin J. Pochan
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Letter |
Hyperexpandable, self-healing macromolecular crystals with integrated polymer networks
The integration of macromolecular ferritin protein crystals with hydrogel polymers gives a composite material that expands isotropically and reversibly to twice its size while maintaining periodicity, resists fragmentation and self-heals efficiently.
- Ling Zhang
- , Jake B. Bailey
- & F. Akif Tezcan
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Letter |
Peptoid nanosheets exhibit a new secondary-structure motif
Some peptoids—synthetic structural relatives of polypeptides—can assemble into two-dimensional nanometre-scale sheets; simulations and experimental measurements show that these nanosheets contain a motif unique to peptoids, namely zigzag Σ-strands, which interlock and enable the nanosheets to extend in two dimensions only.
- Ranjan V. Mannige
- , Thomas K. Haxton
- & Stephen Whitelam
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Letter |
Long-range energy transport in single supramolecular nanofibres at room temperature
Coherent energy transport is key to the operation of the photosynthetic machinery and the successful implementation of molecular electronics; self-assembled supramolecular nanofibres based on carbonyl-bridged triarylamines are now shown to transport singlet excitons over micrometre-scale distances at room temperature.
- Andreas T. Haedler
- , Klaus Kreger
- & Richard Hildner
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News & Views |
Bigger and better synthesis
Nature constructs macromolecules with a precision that chemists have struggled to achieve. So a strategy that offers simple routes to large molecules, starting from small templates, could be the next big thing in synthesis. See Letter p.72
- Christopher Hunter
Supramolecular polymers form tactoids through liquid–liquid phase separation
Optically healable supramolecular polymers