Gathering nanorings via Fe²⁺–bipyridine coordination

Abstract

Spontaneously precise organization of small structures into complex superstructures is ubiquitous and important in nature. But using small building blocks to mimic this process remains a challenge to scientists. Herein, we report the rational design of a bipyridine-derivative and applied it for the self-assembly of nanorings. The addition of Fe(2+) to the nanorings resulted in the assembly of the nanorings into supernanostructures via Fe(2+)-bipyridine coordination. HPLC, HR-ESI/MS, UV-vis, DLS, and TEM analyses clearly validated the intramolecular cyclization, self-assembly of the nanorings, and the additional self-assembly of the superstructures via Fe(2+)-bipyridine coordination. We envision our strategy to be a new approach of precisely assembling nanostructures of ring shape into more complex superstructures.

Molecular Self‐Assembly Constructed in Physiological Conditions for Cancer Diagnosis and Therapy

“…On the basis of the self‐assembly system based on the reduction‐controlled condensation, Liang et al. further designed and realized a superstructure constructed by the coordination between Fe 2+ and the nanorings that were self‐assembled by CBT‐Cys(SEt) as shown in Figure a . To achieve the coordination, CBT‐Cys(SEt) was modified by a bipyridine motif in the lysine side chain, which would be revealed on the surface after the nanorings were assembled through the intramolecular condensation reaction, and this coordination would lead to the assembly of nanorings to form higher order nanostructure.…”

“…Upon Fe 2+ addition, the nanorings were gathered to form supernanostructures via Fe 2+ –bipyridine coordination. Reproduced with permission . Copyright 2015, Royal Society of Chemistry.…”

Firefly Luciferin‐Inspired Biocompatible Chemistry for Protein Labeling and In Vivo Imaging

“…Recently,t hey have demonstrated that the reduction-mediated nanorings could be furtherr egulated by Fe 2 + to self-assemble into superstructures via Fe 2 + -bipyridine coordination. [98] In addition to nanorings, oligomeric hydrogelss elf-assembled from GSH-controlling condensation between CBT and Cys were also reported, which might find broad applicationsi nr edox environment detection and long-term drug delivery. [99] Very recently,L in et al have utilized the biocompatibleC BT-Cys reaction-based self-assembly strategy to develop as mart 18 F-fluorinated PET tracer 6 for tumor imaging (Figure 10 a).…”

“…This simple assay was feasible to qualitatively measure the GSH levels in cell lysates and living cells. Recently, they have demonstrated that the reduction‐mediated nanorings could be further regulated by Fe 2+ to self‐assemble into superstructures via Fe 2+ –bipyridine coordination . In addition to nanorings, oligomeric hydrogels self‐assembled from GSH‐controlling condensation between CBT and Cys were also reported, which might find broad applications in redox environment detection and long‐term drug delivery …”