Supramolecular chemistry articles within Nature

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    An electrically driven motor on the molecular scale based on [3]catenane is described, in which two cyclobis(paraquat-p-phenylene) rings operate by means of redox reactions, demonstrating highly unidirectional movement around a circular loop.

    • Long Zhang
    • , Yunyan Qiu
    •  & J. Fraser Stoddart

  • Article |

    A molecular ratchet, in which a crown ether is pumped from solution onto an encoded molecular strand by a pulse of chemical fuel, opens the way for the reading of information along molecular tapes.

    • Yansong Ren
    • , Romain Jamagne
    •  & David A. Leigh

  • Article |

    A study demonstrates the rational de novo design of water-soluble assemblies constructed from long 310-helical peptides, and details their characterization by circular dichroism spectroscopy, analytical ultracentrifugation and X-ray crystallography.

    • Prasun Kumar
    • , Neil G. Paterson
    •  & Derek N. Woolfson

  • Article |

    The molecular chemical ‘fuelling’ of the catalysis-driven motor 1-phenylpyrrole 2,2′-dicarboxylic acid, which operates by a Brownian information ratchet mechanism, facilitates dynamics that are otherwise kinetically inaccessible.

    • Stefan Borsley
    • , Elisabeth Kreidt
    •  & Benjamin M. W. Roberts

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The superchaotropic nature of globular boron cluster anions enables direct passage of a wide range of molecules across lipid membranes.

    • Andrea Barba-Bon
    • , Giulia Salluce
    •  & Werner M. Nau

  • Article |

    A simple and versatile strategy is established to facilitate molecular recognition by extending electron catalysis for use in supramolecular non-covalent chemistry.

    • Yang Jiao
    • , Yunyan Qiu
    •  & J. Fraser Stoddart

  • Article |

    Sonication of layered metallacycle crystals gives free-standing nanosheets held together by weak non-covalent interactions, with chiral surfaces that show improved binding and enantiodiscrimination compared with individual metallacycle molecules.

    • Jinqiao Dong
    • , Lingmei Liu
    •  & Yong Cui

  • Article |

    Enantioselective supramolecular recognition allows for the asymmetric synthesis of nitrogen stereocentres, providing chiral ammonium cations in a dynamic crystallization process.

    • Mark P. Walsh
    • , Joseph M. Phelps
    •  & Matthew O. Kitching

  • Article |

    A molecular-scale pump whose operation is driven by a catalytic process when in the presence of chemical fuel is autonomous, within an operating window, as long as the fuel lasts.

    • Shuntaro Amano
    • , Stephen D. P. Fielden
    •  & David A. Leigh

  • Article |

    Frank–Kasper phases are observed in small organic molecules from the crystallization of fampridine hydrochloride into two distinct structures, indicating that complex self-assembled structures can arise from simple organic salts.

    • Riccardo Montis
    • , Luca Fusaro
    •  & A. David Rae

  • Article |

    A molecular strand can be knotted and unknotted into three different topologies, depending on the complexing metal ion used (copper or lanthanide or none).

    • David A. Leigh
    • , Fredrik Schaufelberger
    •  & Julien Segard

  • Article |

    Cryo-STEM tomography of ferritin crystallization is used to reveal nonclassical evolution of crystalline order, indicating that it may be desolvation that drives the continuous evolution of order in crystallization.

    • Lothar Houben
    • , Haim Weissman
    •  & Boris Rybtchinski

  • Article |

    The construction of a self-assembled nanocage composed of four metal ions and six antiaromatic walls is demonstrated, and the effect of antiaromaticity on the host–guest properties is investigated.

    • Masahiro Yamashina
    • , Yuya Tanaka
    •  & Jonathan R. Nitschke

  • Letter |

    A molecular machine that can be programmed to position a substrate at one of two directing sites on a molecule, which control the stereochemistry of addition to the substrate, demonstrates complexity, precision and function previously only observed in nature.

    • Salma Kassem
    • , Alan T. L. Lee
    •  & Simone Pisano

  • Letter |

    A system is described in which a small macrocycle is continuously transported directionally around a cyclic molecular track when powered by irreversible reactions of a chemical fuel; such autonomous chemically fuelled molecular motors should find application as engines in molecular nanotechnology.

    • Miriam R. Wilson
    • , Jordi Solà
    •  & David A. Leigh

  • Letter |

    Mutants of the C4-symmetric protein RhuA were designed to self-assemble into two-dimensional crystalline lattices with precise spatial arrangements and patterns; the lattices of one of the variants are auxetic and deform perpendicularly to an applied force in a way that is contrary to what is generally expected in typical materials.

    • Yuta Suzuki
    • , Giovanni Cardone
    •  & F. Akif Tezcan

  • Letter |

    Some peptoids—synthetic structural relatives of polypeptides—can assemble into two-dimensional nanometre-scale sheets; simulations and experimental measurements show that these nanosheets contain a motif unique to peptoids, namely zigzag Σ-strands, which interlock and enable the nanosheets to extend in two dimensions only.

    • Ranjan V. Mannige
    • , Thomas K. Haxton
    •  & Stephen Whitelam

  • Letter |

    Coherent energy transport is key to the operation of the photosynthetic machinery and the successful implementation of molecular electronics; self-assembled supramolecular nanofibres based on carbonyl-bridged triarylamines are now shown to transport singlet excitons over micrometre-scale distances at room temperature.

    • Andreas T. Haedler
    • , Klaus Kreger
    •  & Richard Hildner

  • Letter |

    Chemical force microscopy measurements show that the immobilization of specific cationic groups near non-polar domains produces pronounced changes in the domains’ hydrophobic interaction strengths: charged ammonium groups double interaction strengths, whereas guanidinium groups eliminate measurable interactions.

    • C. Derek Ma
    • , Chenxuan Wang
    •  & Nicholas L. Abbott

  • Letter |

    Scanning tunnelling microscopy reveals that molecules of ferrocenecarboxylic acid can self-assemble into quasicrystal monolayers containing highly unusual cyclic hydrogen-bonded pentamers; this molecular framework could form the basis of a large range of supramolecular assemblies.

    • Natalie A. Wasio
    • , Rebecca C. Quardokus
    •  & S. Alex Kandel

  • Article |

    Absorption of target molecules into a porous matrix permits single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis of the ‘guest’ molecules, avoiding the need to obtain them in single-crystal form and making analysis possible using as little as 80 nanograms of sample.

    • Yasuhide Inokuma
    • , Shota Yoshioka
    •  & Makoto Fujita

  • Letter |

    Organic ferroelectrics with switchable electrical polarization would be an attractive prospect for applications if their Curie temperature—below which these materials display ferroelectric behaviour—could be raised to room temperature or above; this goal has now been achieved with a family of organic materials characterized by a supramolecular structural motif.

    • Alok S. Tayi
    • , Alexander K. Shveyd
    •  & Samuel I. Stupp

  • News & Views |

    A long-standing issue in nanotechnology is how to connect molecular electronic devices. A method for splicing nanoscale wires made from different materials paves the way for a solution to this problem.

    • Dario M. Bassani

  • News & Views |

    Single chains of a specially designed polymer fold up in water to form an encapsulated catalytic chamber. This supramolecular assembly strategy mimics the one used by enzymes in nature.

    • Nicolas Giuseppone
    •  & Jean-François Lutz

  • Letter |

    This paper demonstrates a simple route for encoding a predetermined superstructure into the surface properties of colloidal spheres, enabling them to self-assemble into an intricate open crystalline lattice that is quite distinct from the close-packed periodic arrangements commonly encountered in colloidal crystals.

    • Qian Chen
    • , Sung Chul Bae
    •  & Steve Granick

  • News & Views |

    Nature constructs macromolecules with a precision that chemists have struggled to achieve. So a strategy that offers simple routes to large molecules, starting from small templates, could be the next big thing in synthesis. See Letter p.72

    • Christopher Hunter

  • Letter |

    Hexagons can easily tile a flat surface, but not a curved one. Defects with topological charge (such as heptagons and pentagons) make it easier to tile curved surfaces, such as soccer balls. Here, a new type of defect is reported that accommodates curvature in the same way as fabric pleats. The appearance of such defects on the negatively curved surfaces of stretched colloidal crystals are observed. The results will facilitate the exploration of general theories of defects in curved spaces, the engineering of curved structures and novel methods for soft lithography and directed self-assembly.

    • William T. M. Irvine
    • , Vincenzo Vitelli
    •  & Paul M. Chaikin

  • Letter |

    Halogen atoms have been observed in several different classes of natural product, but very few halogenated natural products have been isolated from terrestrial plants. These authors show that biosynthetic machinery responsible for chlorination events in bacteria could be introduced into the medicinal plant Catharanthus roseus. Prokaryotic halogenases function within the plant cells to generate chlorinated tryptophan, which is then used by the monoterpene indole alkaloid metabolic pathways to yield chlorinated alkaloids.

    • Weerawat Runguphan
    • , Xudong Qu
    •  & Sarah E. O’Connor

  • News & Views |

    Can small molecules in test tubes form assemblies containing different hydrophobic domains, like those found in cells? Yes, finds a study, suggesting new ways of isolating incompatible compounds in water.

    • Jan H. van Esch

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