Structural complexity , chemical arrays

Besides their essential roles in nature, isoprenoids are of commercial importance in industry. Some isoprenoids have been used as flavors, fragrances, spices, and food additives, while many are used as pharmaceuticals to treat an array of human diseases, such as cancer (Taxol), malaria (artemisinin), and HIV (coumarins). In contrast to the huge market demand, isoprenoids are present only in low abundance in their host organisms. Thus, isolation of the required isoprenoids consumes a large quantity of natural resources. Furthermore, owing to their structural complexity, total chemical synthesis is often not commercially feasible. For these reasons, metabolic engineering may provide an alternative to produce these valuable isoprenoids [88,89]. 

Due to the structural complexity of carbohydrates, preparation of structurally well-defined carbohydrates with broad diversity is a key issue for glycan array development. Because it is difficult to obtain sufficient quantities of glycans from natural sources, chemical or chemoenzymatic methods or even pure enzymatic methods have been used to address this deficiency. The recent advances in carbohydrate syntheses that are described in other chapters of this book have greatly reduced the labor for glycan preparation. 

In this chapter, we discuss several approaches that have led from molecular entities to supramolecular soft and hard molecular architectures. Systems based on metal complexes with d and d electronic configuration forming assemblies such as micelles, vesicles, and gels, as well as crystalline structures, will be illustrated. The focus is on the role played by the metal complexes chemical structures as well as the choice of the intermolecular interactions in the ground and/or excited electronic states within the arrays. The selected examples, based on noncovalently linked luminescent systems, aim to the development of multifunctional assemblies, in which the self-organization generates new... 

Proteins are the workhorses of the cell. With different combinations of the 20 common amino acids (and some modification of these amino acids), proteins have been evolved with a staggering array of functions and capabilities including the specific binding of ligands, catalysis of complex chemical reactions, functionality in extreme environments, transportation of valuable molecules, and the exhibition of diverse structural and material properties. Therefore, there has been a long and rich body of research aimed at the investigation of proteins and their abilities, which has been partially motivated due to their widespread participation in disease processes. 

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