Molecular and Mesoscopic Self-Assembly

本研究项目探索分子和材料的非共价化学。通过非共价相互作用，分子或小物体聚集在一起的设计和表征将通过物理有机化学原理进行和理解。特别是，介面和悬浮液中的中尺度粒子，溶液中的寡价物质和分子晶体将被研究，以发展统一的原则，扩展那些在分子自组装和超分子化学领域中发现的原理。通过这个奖项，化学部的有机和大分子化学项目和材料研究部的固态化学和聚合物项目共同资助了一项研究项目，由哈佛大学的George M. Whitesides教授进行。该项目探索了分子及其聚集体之间发生的结合相互作用的本质，以便更好地理解为什么有时采用特定形状，以及为什么某些相互作用比其他相互作用更强。其中一个例子涉及抗生素万古霉素对某些细菌多肽的异常紧密结合。另一个涉及有机晶体固态结构的预测，有机晶体是一类重要的材料，在光电子学和药物生物利用度等领域都有新的应用。

This research project explores the non-covalent chemistry of molecules and materials. The design and characterization of aggregates of molecules or small objects held together by non-covalent interactions will be undertaken and understood through the principles of physical organic chemistry. In particular, meso-scale particles at interfaces and in suspension, oligovalent species in solution, and molecular crystals will be studied in order to develop unifying principles extending those being uncovered in the areas of molecular self-assembly and supramolecular chemistry.With this Award, the Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry Program of the Division of Chemistry and the Solid State Chemistry and Polymers Program of the Division of Materials Research jointly fund a research project to be carried out by Professor George M. Whitesides of Harvard University. This project explores the nature of binding interactions that occur between molecules and aggregates thereof, in order to better understand the reasons why definite shapes are sometimes adopted, and why some interactions are stronger than others. One example involves the extraordinarily tight binding of certain bacterial peptides by the antibiotic vancomycin. Another involves the prediction of solid state structures of organic crystals, an important class of materials with new applications emerging in areas from optoelectronics to drug bioavailability.