Self-Assembly of Multicomponent Nanostructures

在美国国家科学基金会化学部大分子、超分子和纳米化学计划的支持下，俄亥俄州立大学的乔恩·帕奎特教授将开发新的策略，通过简单构建块的自组装来构建多组分纳米材料。构建由离散的、自分类的结构域组成的非生物纳米材料的能力有望使新性能的出现成为可能，这些新性能将推动新型生物材料、药物输送方式、催化剂和光电材料的发展。这项工作将创建一个平台，以解决人类健康和社会中的其他问题，如可再生能源、温室气体转化和医学。该项目将用于提高社会公众对纳米科学的认识，并将使不同的学生接触到科学研究。PI将通过指导本科生和高中生的研究，指导本科生职业俱乐部，并作为俄亥俄州立大学应用植物科学中心(CAPS)的成员参加哥伦布科学与工业中心(COSI)的科学展览，来实现这些目标。本研究旨在更好地从根本上了解在纳米结构水平上控制“自我/非我”相互作用的因素，并建立新的设计原则，通过组件的空间排序领域的共同组装来构建多组件层次结构。这一点很重要，因为组装结构的组件的纳米级组织严重影响纳米材料的功能属性。这项工作的第一个目标是通过非均相成核-伸长机制在自组装纳米管中构建两种类型的超分子环的嵌段序列。第二个目的是通过加入中间多巴胺层来稳定一个组分，并调节与其他组装结构的进一步相互作用，从而促进单独结构域之间的相互作用。只有在燃料存在的情况下才能持续存在的瞬时纳米结构在活细胞中发挥着关键作用，比如控制细胞骨架的机械性能。因此，这项工作的第三个目标将集中在瞬时多组分水凝胶的设计上，这些水凝胶表现出与时间相关的物理/光学特性，其时间演变可以使用共聚焦光学显微镜直接可视化。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

With the support of the Macromolecular, Supramolecular and Nanochemistry Program in the NSF Division of Chemistry, Professor Jon Parquette of Ohio State University will develop new strategies to construct multicomponent nanomaterials via the self-assembly of simple building blocks. The capability to build abiological nanomaterials comprised of discrete, self-sorted domains is expected to enable the emergence of novel properties that will drive the development of novel biomaterials, drug delivery modalities, catalysts, and optoelectronic materials. This work will create a platform to also address other problems in human health and society, such as renewable energy, greenhouse gas conversion, and medicine. This project will be used to enhance public awareness of nanoscience in society and will expose a diversity of students to scientific research. The PI will achieve these goals by supervising undergraduate and high school students in research, by mentoring undergraduate career clubs, and by participating in science exhibitions at Columbus Center of Science and Industry (COSI) as a member the Center of Applied Plant Science (CAPS) at Ohio State University.This research aims to gain a better fundamental understanding of the factors that govern "self/non-self" interaction at the nanostructure level and to establish new design principles to construct multicomponent hierarchical architectures by the coassembly of spatially sorted domains of components. This is important because the nanoscale organization of the components of an assembled structure critically impacts the functional attributes of a nanomaterial. The first aim of this work will construct block sequences of two types of supramolecular rings within a self-assembled nanotube via a heterogeneous nucleation-elongation mechanism. The second aim facilitates the interactions between the separate domains by incorporating an intervening polydopamine layer to stabilize one component and mediate further interactions with additional assembled structures. Transient nanostructures that only persist in the presence of fuel play critical roles in living cells, such as controlling the mechanical properties of the cytoskeleton. Thus, the third aim of this work will focus on the design of transient multicomponent hydrogels that exhibit time-dependent physical/optical characteristics, whose temporal evolution can be directly visualized using confocal light microscopy.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.