Tunable Magnetism of Organometallic Nanoclusters by Graphene Oxide On-Surface Chemistry.

Assembly of interacting molecular spins is an attractive candidate for spintronic and quantum computing devices. Here, we report on-surface chemical assembly of aminoferrocene molecules on a graphene oxide (GO) sheet and their magnetic properties. On the GO surface, organometallic molecules having individual spins through charge transfer between the molecule and the sheet are arranged in nanoclusters having diameters of about 2 nm.

Controlled Fabrication of Silk Protein Sericin Mediated Hierarchical Hybrid Flowers and Their Excellent Adsorption Capability of Heavy Metal Ions of Pb(II), Cd(II) and Hg(II).

Fabrication of protein-inorganic hybrid materials of innumerable hierarchical patterns plays a major role in the development of multifunctional advanced materials with their improved features in synergistic way. However, effective fabrication and applications of the hybrid structures is limited due to the difficulty in control and production cost. Here, we report the controlled fabrication of complex hybrid flowers with hierarchical porosity through a green and facile coprecipitation method by using industrial waste natural silk protein sericin.

A new approach to molecular self-assembly through formation of dipeptide-based unique architectures by artificial supersaturation.

Morphological transition and the fabrication of unique architectures through molecular self-assembly of dipeptides are caused by the formation of a small nucleus in artificial supersaturation, achieved by quick drying of the solvent due to the local Joule heating. The growth mechanism of "diatom-like" porous microspheres and microtubes is proposed on the basis of several new techniques developed in the study.

Design and self-assembly of a leucine-enkephalin analogue in different nanostructures: application of nanovesicles.

An opioid (leucine-enkephalin) conformational analogue forms diverse nanostructures such as vesicles, tubes, and organogels through self-assembly. The nanovesicles encapsulate the natural hydrophobic drug curcumin and allow the controlled release through cation-generated porogens in membrane mimetic solvent.

Salts responsive nanovesicles through pi-stacking induced self-assembly of backbone modified tripeptides.

A set of backbone modified peptides of general formula Boc-Xx-m-ABA-Yy-OMe where m-ABA is meta-aminobenzoic acid and Xx and Yy are natural amino acids such as Phe, Gly, Pro, Leu, Ile, Tyr and Trp etc., are found to self-assemble into soft nanovesicular structures in methanol-water solution (9:1 by v/v). At higher concentration the peptides generate larger vesicles which are formed through fusion of smaller vesicles.

Overlapping double turn conformations adopted by tetrapeptides containing non-coded alpha-amino isobutyric acid (Aib) and formation of tape-like structures through supramolecular helix mediated self-assembly.

Single crystal X-ray diffraction studies and solvent dependent (1)H NMR titrations reveal that a set of four tetrapeptides with general formula Boc-Xx(1)-Aib(2)-Yy(3)-Zz(4)-OMe, where Xx, Yy and Zz are coded L-amino acids, adopt equivalent conformations that can be described as overlapping double turn conformations stabilized by two 4-->1 intramolecular hydrogen bonds between Yy(3)-NH and Boc C=O and Zz(4)-NH and Xx(1)C=O. In the crystalline state, the double turn structures are packed in head-to-tail fashion through intermolecular hydrogen bonds to create supramolecular helical structures. Field emission scanning electron microscopic (FE-SEM) images of the tetrapeptides in the solid state reveal that they can form flat tape-like structures.