Self-assembly behavior of disaccharide-containing supra-amphiphiles

In this paper,supra-amphiphilic compounds containing disaccharides and azobenzene ends have been constructed via dynamic covalent bond.It was found that the slight structural difference of the disaccharides made significant difference in the self-assembled morphologies.Namely,three kinds of azodisaccharide supra-amphiphiles were found to assemble into different morphologies,with the only difference in chemical structure from the disaccharides.More importantly,the structural difference between the disaccharides,including lactoside,maltoside and cellobioside was trivial.Molecular simulation revealed the packing of molecules was due to the different contribution from hydrogen bonds.The above results clearly indicated the contribution of saccharide packing,especially the related hydrogen bonding,to the final morphology of the assembled structures.

Construction of Redox Responsive Vesicles Based on a Supra-Amphiphile for Enzyme Confinement

Redox responsive vesicles were constructed based on guest interaction between fl-cyclodextrin and a ferrocene self-assembly of a supra-amphiphile built by the host- derivative. The structure and destruction-reconstruction reversibility of the ＂smart＂ vesicles were clearly characterized by electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering. Notably, these vesicles were proved to be capable of controlled release function and bringing protease resistance to the enzyme, showing great biocompatibility and promising applications.

Self-assembly of supra-amphiphile of azobenzene-galactopyranoside based on dynamic covalent bond and its dual responses

In this paper, dynamic covalent bond has been employed to construct supra-amphiphile of carbohydrate for the first time. In neutral environment, the molecule was fabricated by reacting a hydrophobic building block bearing benzoic aldehyde with a hydrophilic building block bearing hydrazine to form a sugar-containing supra-amphiphile based on acylhydrazone bond, The obtained azobenzene- galactopyranoside （Azo-Gal） supra-amphiphile self-assembled to fibrillar structure in water, which showed dual responses to UV light and pH.

Pillararene-based supramolecular systems for theranostics and bioapplications

As an emerging type of important macrocycles for supramolecular chemistry,pillararenes and their derivatives have been widely studied and applied in numerous fields,which intensively promotes the development of chemistry,materials science and biology.Pillararene-based theranostic systems are of special interest in the biological and medical areas as they have shown very promising results.Owing to easy preparation,reliable guest affinity,good biocompatibility and stability,pillararenes are frequently used to construct functional biomaterials.On one hand,pillararenes can either be used individually or form diversiform self-assemblies such as micelles,nanoparticles and vesicles to increase water solubility and biocompatibility of drugs.On the other hand,it is promising to modify solid materials like framework materials,silica nanoparticles and graphene oxides with pillararene derivatives to enhance their functions and controllability.In this review,we summarize recent endeavors of pillararene-based supramolecular systems with theranostics and other biological applications comprising drug delivery/chemotherapy,photodynamic/photothermal therapy,antimicrobials,bioimaging,etc.By introducing several typical examples,the design principles,preparation strategies,identifications and bio-applications of these pillararene-based supramolecular systems are described.Future challenges and directions of this field are also outlined.

pH-Responsive Host-Guest Complexation between a Water-soluble Pillar[7]Arene and a 2,7-Diazapyrenium Salt and Its Application in Controllable Self-assembly

A novel host-guest recognition motif based on a water-soluble pillar[7]arene （WP7） and a 2,7-diazapyrenium salt （DMDAP） was prepared. According to the integrated results of ^1H NMR, 2D NOESY, UV-vis spectroscopy and fluorescence titration experiments, we demonstrated that the molecular recognition of WP7 to DMDAP in water not only has high association constant but also has pH-responsiveness. Subsequently, we took advantage of this molecular recognition motif to fabricate a supra-amphiphile based on WP7 and an amphiphilic 2,7-diazapyrenium derivative DAPAC. Its controllable self-assembly in water was also investigated by means of TEM and DLS techniques.