Micelle-crosslinked hydrogels with stretchable,self-healing,and selectively adhesive properties:Random copolymers work as dynamic yet self-sorting domains

The design of crosslinking domains is a vital factor to create functional hydrogels with controlled physical,mechanical,and adhesive properties.This paper demonstrates versatile synthetic systems of micelle-crosslinked hydrogels with highly stretchable,self-healing,and selectively adhesive properties.For this,methacrylate-bearing random copolymer micelles are designed as physical and covalent crosslink domains via the self-assembly of amphiphilic random copolymers carrying hydrophilic poly(ethylene glycol)(PEG),hydrophobic butyl or dodecyl groups,and methacrylate-terminal PEG in water.The size,aggregation number,and pendant methacrylate number of the micelles are controlled by the composition and degree of polymerization.Hydrogels are efficiently obtained from the free radical polymerization of hydrophilic monomers such as PEG acrylate and acrylamide in the presence of the micelle crosslinkers in water.Owing to the dynamic yet selective chain exchange properties of the micelle domains,the hydrogels are highly stretchable up to over 1000%and show self-healing and selectively adhesive properties.The self-healing of hydrogels is promoted upon heating due to the fast chain exchange of the micelle domains,whereas hydrogels consisting of micelles with different alkyl groups are never adhesive because of their self-sorting properties.

Controllable fabrication of a supramolecular polymer incorporating twisted cucurbit[14]uril and cucurbit[8]uril via self-sorting

A linear supramolecular polymer with controllable features based on twisted cucurbit[14]uril(tQ[14])and cucurbit[8]uril(Q[8])was firstly fabricated via an effective self-sorting strategy.Herein we designed a monomer,1–butyl–1?-(naphthalen-2-ylmethyl)-4,4?-bipyridinium bromide(BNB),that contains bipyridyl,aliphatic butyl and aromatic naphthyl groups,simultaneously.Two host molecules,tQ[14]and Q[8]were employed to develop an effective strategy for constructing a linear supramolecular polymer with con-trollable features.The alkyl groups on both sides of BNB could insert into the two cavities of tQ[14],the naphthyl part of BNB viaπ-πstacking in Q[8]cavity,serving as the driving force for supramolecular polymerization.Through self-sorting of the monomer,tQ[14]and Q[8],led to the formation of the linear supramolecular polymer.Depolymerization could be achieved by addition of adamantane hydrochloride(AH)which driven two BNB guest molecules out of the Q[8]cavity.This self-sorting strategy has great potential,not only for designing supramolecular polymer materials with different controllable structures through introduction of multiple functional groups,but also for broadening the application of twisted cucurbit[14]uril in supramolecular chemistry.

One-pot synthesis of well-organized heteropolyrotaxane via self-sorting strategy

Two novel [3]pseudorotaxanes can be selectively synthesized from four components through self-sorting processes, which provides a new strategy for the construction of a well-organized heteropolyrotaxane.

Proliferation-mediated asymmetric nanoencapsulation of singlecell and motility differentiation

The biointerface engineering of living cells by creating an abiotic shell has important implications for endowing cells with exogenous properties with improved cellular behavior,which then boosts the development of the emerging field of living cell hybrid materials.Herein,we develop a way to perform active nanoencapsulation of single cell,which then endows the encapsulated cells with motion ability that they do not inherently possess.The emerging motion characteristics of the encapsulated cells could be self-regulated in terms of both the motion velocity and orbits by different proliferation modes.Accordingly,by taking advantage of the emergence of differentiated moving abilities,we achieve the self-sorting between mother cells and daughter cells in a proliferated Saccharomyces cerevisiae cell community.Therefore,it is anticipated that our highlighted study could not only serve as a new technique in the field of single-cell biology analysis and sorting such as in studying the aging process in Saccharomyces cerevisiae,but also open up opportunities to manipulate cell functionality by creating biohybrid materials to fill the gap between biological systems and engineering abiotic materials.

Highly active artificial potassium channels having record-high K^(+)/Na^(+) selectivity of 20.1

Replicating extraordinarily high membrane transport selectivity of protein channels in artificial channel is a challenging task.In this work,we demonstrate that a strategic application of steric code-based social self-sorting offers a novel means to enhance ion transport selectivities of artificial ion channels,alongside with boosted ion transport activities.More specifically,two types of mutually compatible sterically bulky groups(benzo-crown ether and tert-butyl group)were appended onto a monopeptide-based scaffold,which can order the bulky groups onto the same side of a one-dimensionally aligned H-bonded structure.Strong steric repulsions among the same type of bulky groups(either benzo-crown ethers or tert-butyl groups),which are forced into proximity by H-bonds,favor the formation of hetero-oligomeric ensem-bles that carry an alternative arrangement of sterically compatible benzo-crown ethers and tert-butyl groups,rather than homo-oligomeric ensembles containing a single type of either benzo-crown ethers or tert-butyl groups.Coupled with side chain tuning,this social self-sorting strategy delivers highly ac-tive hetero-oligomeric K+-selective ion channel(5F12-BF12)_(n),displaying the highest K+/Na+selectivity of 20.1 among artificial potassium channels and an excellent ECso value of 0.50μmol/L(0.62 mo1%relative to lipids)in terms of single channel concentration.

Design of Metal-Organic Assemblies via Shape Complementarity and Conformational Constraints in Dual Curvature Ligands

While common in biological systems,building blocks with low symmetry and flexibility pose numerous problems for synthetic self-assembly,such as the formation of isomers of assemblies that are difficult to distinguish and purify.In this work,three aromatic amide-based ligands(L1–L3)with a central 1,8-diazatriptycene core were designed and used for selfassembly with Pd^(2+).While hundreds of stereoisomers based on the conformational flexibility around the amides and the unsymmetrical nonplanar structure of the core are possible upon coordination with the metal,the constraints designed into the ligands direct the self-assembly toward only a single Pd_(2)L_(4)cage(L1)or Pd_(4)L_(8)double-walled metallomacrocycle(L2)structure,even in mixtures of the ligands.This structural approach and the modularity of the ligand synthesis affords ready access to deep cavitands with endohedral functionalization(L3).These results highlight the potential of this new design strategy and open the door to selectively functionalized cavity-based architectures for numerous applications.