Light-induced unfolding and refolding of supramolecular polymer nanofibres

Bimalendu Adhikari, Yuki Yamada, Mitsuaki Yamauchi, Kengo Wakita, Xu Lin, Keisuke Aratsu, Tomonori Ohba, Takashi Karatsu, Martin J. Hollamby, Nobutaka Shimizu, Hideaki Takagi, Rie Haruki, Shin-ichi Adachi and Shiki Yagai ()
Additional contact information
Bimalendu Adhikari: Graduate School of Engineering, Chiba University
Yuki Yamada: Graduate School of Engineering, Chiba University
Mitsuaki Yamauchi: Graduate School of Engineering, Chiba University
Kengo Wakita: Graduate School of Engineering, Chiba University
Xu Lin: Graduate School of Engineering, Chiba University
Keisuke Aratsu: Graduate School of Engineering, Chiba University
Tomonori Ohba: Graduate School of Science, Chiba University
Takashi Karatsu: Graduate School of Engineering, Chiba University
Martin J. Hollamby: School of Chemical and Physical Sciences, Keele University
Nobutaka Shimizu: Photon Factory, Institute of Materials Structure Science, High Energy Accelerator Research Organization
Hideaki Takagi: Photon Factory, Institute of Materials Structure Science, High Energy Accelerator Research Organization
Rie Haruki: Photon Factory, Institute of Materials Structure Science, High Energy Accelerator Research Organization
Shin-ichi Adachi: Photon Factory, Institute of Materials Structure Science, High Energy Accelerator Research Organization
Shiki Yagai: Graduate School of Engineering, Chiba University

Nature Communications, 2017, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Unlike classical covalent polymers, one-dimensionally (1D) elongated supramolecular polymers (SPs) can be encoded with high degrees of internal order by the cooperative aggregation of molecular subunits, which endows these SPs with extraordinary properties and functions. However, this internal order has not yet been exploited to generate and dynamically control well-defined higher-order (secondary) conformations of the SP backbone, which may induce functionality that is comparable to protein folding/unfolding. Herein, we report light-induced conformational changes of SPs based on the 1D exotic stacking of hydrogen-bonded azobenzene hexamers. The stacking causes a unique internal order that leads to spontaneous curvature, which allows accessing conformations that range from randomly folded to helically folded coils. The reversible photoisomerization of the azobenzene moiety destroys or recovers the curvature of the main chain, which demonstrates external control over the SP conformation that may ultimately lead to biological functions.

Date: 2017
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms15254 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:8:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms15254

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15254

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().