Chemical fuel-driven living and transient supramolecular polymerization

Supramolecular polymerization.

ion of the proton from the amino group of the monomer (phenyl 4-(alkylamino)benzoate) by the base, the reactivity of the phenyl ester moiety is deactivated, which prevents monomers from reacting with each other. The anion produced by proton abstraction from the monomer will only react with initiator, leading to an activated monomer that possesses a more reactive phenyl ester moiety compared to ...

Compression, supramolecular organization and free radical polymerization of ethylene gas

At low pressure, ethylene gas consists of single translating and rotating molecules and behaves as an ideal gas. With decrease of free volume by compression, various rotating supramolecular particles are formed, which require less space for the movement: molecular pairs, bimolecules and oligomolecules. The appearance of a new kind of particles is manifested as a phase transition of the second o...

A selectivity-driven supramolecular polymerization of an AB monomer.

Non-equilibrium supramolecular polymerization

Supramolecular polymerization has been traditionally focused on the thermodynamic equilibrium state, where one-dimensional assemblies reside at the global minimum of the Gibbs free energy. The pathway and rate to reach the equilibrium state are irrelevant, and the resulting assemblies remain unchanged over time. In the past decade, the focus has shifted to kinetically trapped (non-dissipative n...

Actin polymerization-driven molecular movement of mDia1 in living cells.

mDia1, a Rho effector, belongs to the Formin family of proteins, which shares the conserved tandem FH1-FH2 unit structure. Formins including mDia1 accelerate actin nucleation while interacting with actin filament fast-growing ends. Here our single-molecule imaging revealed fast directional movement of mDia1 FH1-FH2 for tens of microns in living cells. The movement of mDia1 FH1-FH2 was blocked b...