Self-assembling properties

Structure of the chiral poly-Schiff base [14] has been studied by NMR spectroscopy.29 It was shown that poly-Schiff bases have an interesting feature their chiral forms can be self-assembled into nanometer-size fibrous architecture, while their racemic analogues did not show any self-assembling properties. 

Kentsis, a., R. E. Gordon, and K. L. Borden, Self-assembly properties of a model RING domain. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 2002, 99(2), 667-72. 

X, Y Synthesis and Self-Assembling Properties of Diacetylene-Containing Glycolipids (from Nie and Wang, 2006)... 

Phospholipids, when dispersed in water, may exhibit self-assembly properties (either as micellar self-assembly aggregates or larger structures). This may lead to aggregates that are called liposomes or vesicles. Liposomes are structures that are empty cells and that are currently being used by some industries. They are microscopic vesicles or containers formed by the membrane alone, and are widely used in the pharmaceutical and cosmetic fields because it is possible to insert chemicals inside them. Liposomes may also be used solubilize (in its hydrophobic part) hydro-phobic chemicals (water-insoluble organic compounds) such as oily substances so that they can be dispersed in an aqueous medium by virtue of the hydrophilic properties of the liposomes (in the alkyl region). 

Another strategy to control surface morphologies and properties by using self-assembling properties of polymer chains is to randomly graft different kinds of homopolymers on a surface. In recent years, such a mixed homopolymer brush has been extensively investigated both theoretically and... 

Finally, it is always possible to make DNA a conducting wire by coating it with silver or other metal, as done by Braun et al. [8]. The trick would be to do this while retaining the self-assembly properties of DNA. Alternatively, one could make use of the self-assembly properties before carrying out the coating, as done by Braun et al. 

Synthesis of solid state materials using surfactant molecules as template has been extensively used in this decade. Among the advantages of the use of amphiphilic molecules, the self-assembling property of the surfactants can provide an effective method for synthesising ceramic and composite materials with interesting characteristics, such as nanoscale control of morphology, and nano or mesopore structure with narrow and controllable size distribution [1-5]. 

Fig. 4 (a) Applied voltage vs. transmission (V-T) curves of in twisted cells at 100 Hz and 25°C. a) Pure 5CB, b) 5CB-capped Pd, c) 5CB-capped Ag-Pd (1/9), d) 5CB-capped Ag-Pd (1/4), e) 5CB-capped Ag-Pd (1/1), f) 5CB-capped Ag-Pd (4/1), g) 5CB-capped Ag-Pd (9/1), and h) 5CB-capped Ag. (b) Cartoon of a liquid crystal cell filled with 5CB-sol containing metal nanoparticles. A self-assembly property of liquid crystal is speculatively perturbed by nanoparticles in the liquid crystal medium [301], (Copyright 2008, American Chemical Society)... 

Testard, F., Bauduin, P., Martinet, L., Abecassis, B., Berthon, L., Madic, C., Zemb, T. 2008. Self-assembling properties of malonamide extractants used in separation processes. Radiochimica Acta 96(4-5) 265-272. 

For all the systems studied, it is now acknowledged that the self-assembling properties of both the extractant and the metal or acid-extractant complexes produce polar cores that are unstable due to short-range attractive interactions. The speciation of supramolecular structure is thus highly important for further progress toward a complete description of liquid/liquid extraction processes (38). 

Despite several studies on the self-assembling properties of extractants, few details on the structure of the aggregates were available before 1997. Small-angle neutron or X-ray scattering (SANS or SAXS, respectively) are powerful tools for characterizing... 

Although the role of the self-assembling properties of the extractant in the stability of the organic phase has now been demonstrated, this is not yet the case for the... 

Early studies on amino acid/peptide derived amphiphiles revealed that their ability to assemble into various architectures was controlled by surprisingly small structural differences. The hydrophobic residues in the peptide amphiphiles have shown to shield themselves from water and to self-assemble in a manner similar to the protein folding. The similarity of their self-assembling properties to those of proteins, initiated numerous studies for the determination of the relationship between the structure of an individual amino acid or a specific peptide sequence and the resulting architecture. 

It should be noted that the development of such polymer systems is stimulated by existing experimental works. In particular, the experimental methods of preparation of nanometer-sized hollow-sphere structures have been suggested [58-63] because of their possible usage for encapsulation of molecules or colloidal particles. The preparation of hollow-sphere structures, generally, is based on self-assembling properties of block copolymers in a selective solvent, i.e., on the formation of polymer micelles with a nanometersized diameter. Further cross-finking of the shell of the micelle and photodegradation [64] of the core part produce nanometer-sized hollow cross-linked micelles. 

Synthetic protein-like polymers containing amino acids find pharmaceutical and biological applications and display self-assembly properties [174], In this aspect, both ROMP and ADMET have been used as tools for the polymerization of amino acid-based monomers. Early ROMP examples date back to 1994 with the synthesis and ROMP of amino acid-derived homochiral norbomene monomers by Coles et al [175], The molybdenum complex [Mo(=CHCMe2Ph)(=NC6H3Pr,2-2,6)(OBu )2]... 

Figure 3.5 shows the organized mesoporous structure of one of these materials. The wide variety of organic molecules with self-assembling properties allows for the synthesis of a myriad of solids with controlled porosity. Cationic surfactants, like the hexadecyltrimethylammonium used to synthesize MCM-41 [26], or three-block copolymers (hydrophilic-hydrophobic-hydrophilic) are two good examples. 

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