Manipulating the self-assembly of amphiphilic polymers in water: a synthetic and mechanistic approach

当前的材料科学越来越依赖于纳米结构，纳米结构是特征尺寸为1至100 nm的物体，其长度尺度介于原子和分子的尺寸与固体的宏观范围之间。当今化学面临的巨大挑战之一是找到组装分子的方法，使它们能够通过自组织构建纳米结构，这是一个由弱力共同作用驱动的过程，并由能够创造精确结构分子的化学家精心策划。 该提案描述了几种基于水溶性大分子，特别是天然多糖的受控缔合的自组装结构的产生方法。 在这种情况下，组织是由许多水分子与大分子上的官能团相互作用驱动的，就像水迫使蛋白质折叠或脂质组织成膜一样。 研究的结果将是分层对象，能够集成到药物输送，基因治疗或其他水性流体的功能系统中。

Current materials science increasingly relies on nanostructures, which are objects of characteristic dimensions 1 to 100 nm, a length scale between the size of atoms and molecules and the macroscopic range of solids. One of the great challenges facing chemistry today is to find ways to assemble molecules so as to enable them to build nanostructures via self-organization, a process driven by weak forces acting together and orchestrated by chemists able to create molecules of precise structure.  This proposal describes several approaches towards the creation of self-assembled structures based on the controlled association of water-soluble macromolecules, in particular natural polysaccharides.  In this case, organization is driven by the interactions of many water molecules with functionalities on the macromolecules, in much the same way as water forces proteins to fold or lipids to organize into membranes.  The outcome of the research will be hierarchical objects able to be integrated into functional systems for drug delivery, gene therapy, or other water borne fluids.