Protein structures evolved through a complex interplay of cooperative interactions and it is still very challenging to design new protein folds de novo. Here, we present a strategy to design self-assembling polypeptide nanostructured polyhedra, based on modularization using orthogonal dimerizing segments. We designed end experimentally demonstrated formation of the tetrahedron that self-assembles from a single polypeptide chain comprising 12 concatenated coiled-coil-forming segments separated by flexible peptide hinges. Path of the polypeptide chain is guided by the defined order of segments that traverse each of the 6 edges of the tetrahedron exactly twice, forming coiled-coil dimers with their corresponding partners. Coincidence of the polypeptide termini in the same vertex is demonstrated by reconstitution of the split fluorescent protein by the polypeptide with the correct tetrahedral topology, while polypeptides with a deleted or scrambled segment order fail to self-assemble correctly. This design platform provides the basis for construction of new topological polypeptide folds based on the set of orthogonal interacting polypeptide segments.

More than four decades ago, Brochard and de Gennes proposed that colloidal suspensions of ferromagnetic particles in nematic (directionally ordered) liquid crystals could form macroscopic ferromagnetic phases at room temperature. The experimental realization of these predicted phases has hitherto proved elusive, with such systems showing enhanced paramagnetism but no spontaneous magnetization in the absence of an external magnetic field. Here we show that nanometre-sized ferromagnetic platelets suspended in a nematic liquid crystal can order ferromagnetically on quenching from the isotropic phase. Cooling in the absence of a magnetic field produces a polydomain sample exhibiting the two opposing states of magnetization, oriented parallel to the direction of nematic ordering. Cooling in the presence of a magnetic field yields a monodomain sample; magnetization can be switched by domain wall movement on reversal of the applied magnetic field. The ferromagnetic properties of this dipolar fluid are due to the interplay of the nematic elastic interaction (which depends critically on the shape of the particles) and the magnetic dipolar interaction. This ferromagnetic phase responds to very small magnetic fields and may find use in magneto-optic devices.

Different liquid crystalline phases with long-range orientational but not positional order, so-called nematic phases, are scarce. New nematic phases are rarely discovered, and such an event inevitably generates much interest. Here, we describe a transition from a uniaxial to a novel nematic phase characterized by a periodic splay modulation of the director. In this new nematic phase, defect structures not present in the uniaxial nematic phase are observed, which indicates that the new phase has lower symmetry than the ordinary nematic phase. The phase transition is weakly first order, with a significant pretransitional behavior, which manifests as strong splay fluctuations. When approaching the phase transition, the splay nematic constant is unusually low and goes towards zero. Analogously to the transition from the uniaxial nematic to the twist-bend nematic phase, this transition is driven by instability towards splay orientational deformation, resulting in a periodically splayed structure. And, similarly, a Landau-de Gennes type of phenomenological theory can be used to describe the phase transition. The modulated splay phase is biaxial and antiferroelectric.

Here we report the chemical induction of the twist-bend nematic phase in a nematic mixture of ether-linked liquid crystal dimers by the addition of a dimer with methylene links; all dimers have an odd number of groups in the spacer connecting the two mesogenic groups. The twist-bend phase has been identified from its optical texture and x-ray scattering pattern as well as NMR spectroscopy, which demonstrates the phase chirality. Theory predicts that the key macroscopic property required for the stability of this chiral phase formed from achiral molecules is for the bend elastic constant to tend to be negative; in addition the twist elastic constant should be smaller than half the splay elastic constant. To test these important aspects of the prediction we have measured the bend and splay elastic constants in the nematic phase preceding the twist-bend nematic using the classic Frederiks methodology and all three elastic constants employing the dynamic light scattering approach. Our results show that, unlike the splay, the bend elastic constant is small and decreases significantly as the transition to the induced twist-bend nematic phase is approached, but then exhibits unexpected behavior prior to the phase transition.