-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: A dispersion-dominated colorimetric approach for the recognition of carbohydrates based on biomolecule-responsive AuNPs is presented. Taking advantage of the unique dual-responsiveness of smart copolymers, the aggregation and dispersion of AuNPs can be modulated by both temperature and different kinds of carbohydrates, giving rise to a novel chromogenic mechanism for the recognition and testing of carbohydrates in aqueous media.
Advanced Materials 11/2012; · 13.88 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Carbon-based materials, such as graphite, are the most common anodes used in lithium ion batteries, but the fundamental question of how many Li ions can be inserted onto C(6) aromatic rings remains unsolved. In their Communication (DOI: 10.1002/anie.201109187), T. Sun and co-workers use a model compound to demonstrate that each C(6) ring can accept up to 6 Li ions to create Li(6) /C(6) additive complexes through a reversible electrochemical reaction, which results in Li ion insertion capacities of up to nearly 2000 mA h g(-1) .
Angewandte Chemie International Edition 04/2012; · 13.45 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Getting a charge out of lithium: The naphthalene derivative NTCDA is used to demonstrate a novel lithium ion insertion model in which each ring carbon atom can reversibly accept a lithium ion, giving discharge capacities of up to nearly 2000 mA h g(-1) . This method provides a new strategy for the design of high-performance organic electrodes.
Angewandte Chemie International Edition 04/2012; 51(21):5147-51. · 13.45 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: The ability to transform the chiral signals of molecules into the macroscopic properties of a material will offer significant advantages in the development of chiral functional devices and chirality-related applications. Chirality-responsive polymers provide an excellent platform to realize this objective, which often involves two basic strategies. The first strategy is to utilize various external stimuli to directly mediate the chiral conformations of a polymer, through which the energy input is transformed into a macroscopic change in the properties of a material. The second strategy is to utilize the enantioselective interaction between polymers and guest chiral molecules to trigger a stepwise conformational change in smart polymers, which then results in transformation of the macroscopic properties. This review summarizes recent progress in generating chirality-responsive polymers based on these strategies and discusses advances in their applications as chiral sensors, liquid crystals, optical and electrical devices, nanomachines and so on. We then introduce the emerging field of chiral bio-interface materials, in which chiral signals are transformed into changes in the macroscopic behavior of cells and biomacromolecules based on the stereo-specific interactions between biological systems and artificial materials.Keywords: chiral materials; chiral recognition; smart polymers
NPG Asia Materials. 12/2011; 4(1):e4.
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Chiral phenomena are ubiquitous in nature from macroscopic to microscopic, including the high chirality preference of small biomolecules, special steric conformations of biomacromolecules induced by it, as well as chirality-triggered biological and physiological processes. The introduction of chirality into the study of interface interactions between materials and biological systems leads to the generation of chiral biointerface materials, which provides a new platform for understanding the chiral phenomena in biological system, as well as the development of novel biomaterials and devices. This critical review gives a brief introduction to the recent advances in this field. We start from the fabrication of chiral biointerface materials, and further investigate the stereo-selective interaction between biological systems and chiral interface materials to find out key factors governing the performance of such materials in given conditions, then introduce some special functionalities and potential applications of chiral biointerface materials, and finally present our own thinking about the future development of this area (108 references).
Chemical Society Reviews 12/2011; 41(5):1972-84. · 28.76 Impact Factor
-
Advanced Materials 04/2011; 23(14):1614. · 13.88 Impact Factor
-
Advanced Materials 04/2011; 23(14):1615-20. · 13.88 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Controlling the surface chemical and physical properties of materials and modulating the interfacial behaviors of biological entities, e.g., cells and biomolecules, are central tasks in the study of biomaterials. In this context, smart polymer interface materials have recently attracted much interest in biorelated applications and have broad prospects due to the excellent controllability of their surface properties by external stimuli. Among such materials, poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) and its copolymer films are especially attractive due to their reversible hydrogen-bonding-mediated reversible phase transition, which mimics natural biological processes. This platform is promising for tuning surface properties or to introduce novel biofunctionalities via copolymerization with various functional units and/or combination with other materials. Important progress in this field in recent years is highlighted.
Advanced Materials 03/2011; 23(12):H57-77. · 13.88 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Controlling the interfacial chemical and physical properties, and thus modulating the behaviours of cells and biomolecules on material surfaces, form an important foundation for the development of high-performance biomaterials and devices. Biological systems in nature exhibit unique features in this aspect. The first one is that the superior properties of natural biomaterials are normally not determined by their bulk properties, but more related to the multi-scale micro- and nanostructures on the surface; the second is that biological systems usually utilize highly specific weak interactions (e.g. hydrogen bonding interaction, hydrophobic interaction, etc.) to solve the problems of biomolecule interactions; the third is that the biomolecules in nature are often chiral molecules and show high preference for one specific enantiomorphous configuration, suggesting a distinctive chiral recognition mechanism in biological systems. These features bring much inspiration to design novel biointerface materials with special functionalities, e.g. structural biointerface materials, smart biointerface materials and chiral biointerface materials. The purpose of this critical review is to give a brief introduction of recent advances in these aspects (90 references).
Chemical Society Reviews 02/2011; 40(5):2909-21. · 28.76 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: DNA patterning on surfaces has broad applications in biotechnology, nanotechnology, and other fields of life science. The common patterns make use of the highly selective base pairing which might not be stable enough for further manipulations. Furthermore, the fabrication of well-defined DNA nanostructures on solid surfaces usually lacks chemical linkages to the surface. Here we report a template-free strategy based on "click" chemistry to fabricate spatially controlled DNA nanopatterns immobilized on surfaces. The self-assembly process utilizes DNA with different anchoring sites. The position of anchoring is of crucial importance for the self-assembly process of DNA and greatly influences the assembly of particular DNA nanopatterns. It is shown that the anchoring site in a central position generates tunable nanonetworks with high regularity, compared to DNAs containing anchoring sites at terminal and other positions. The prepared patterns may find applications in DNA capturing and formation of pores and channels and can serve as templates for the patterning using other molecules.
Journal of the American Chemical Society 10/2010; 132(43):15228-32. · 9.91 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: A smart copolymer film that is sensitive to nucleotide species in solution was developed. The film exhibits ann excellent reversible wettability response to nucleotide solutions, which is accompanied by a phase change and the corresponding swell and shrinkage of the copolymer.
Journal of the American Chemical Society 07/2009; 131(24):8370-1. · 9.91 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Unusual solvent responsive wettability of water-induced superhydrophobicity was realized on a smart copolymer surface containing double amino acid units.
Chemical Communications 06/2009; · 6.17 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Four linear thiourea anion receptors (1-3) derived from simple amino acid have been synthesized and their bonding properties with various chiral N-protected amino acid anions were examined by using UV-vis and fluorescence titration experiments. Receptors 1a, 2, and 3 exhibit excellent enantioselective recognition abilities towards N-Boc-protected alanine anion in the UV-vis spectra, obvious difference in the color of solution indicate that the enantiomers of N-Boc-alanine anion could be distinguished by naked eye directly. Receptor 1a is also found to carry out enantioselective fluorescent recognition of the N-acetyl-glutamate. (1)H NMR experiments suggest that hydrogen-bonding interaction between the host and guest is the main factor in the recognition process.
Chirality 07/2008; 21(3):363-73. · 2.35 Impact Factor
