Photoresponsive protamine ionic complex towards a smart hemostatic biomaterial.

Protamine (PA) is the only licensed antidote for reversing heparin anticoagulation by electrostatically binding with heparin. Efforts have been made on designing various heparin-scavengers, while, it remains a great challenge for gaining the external-stimuli responsive PA-release material. In this study, a generic strategy is developed for fabricating photoresponsive protein materials with the designed azobenzene-containing surfactant.

Photoresponsive heparin ionic complexes toward controllable therapeutic efficacy of anticoagulation.

Controllable heparin-release is of great importance and necessity for the precise anticoagulant regulation. Efforts have been made on designing heparin-releasing systems, while, it remains a great challenge for gaining the external-stimuli responsive heparin-release in either intravenous or catheter delivery. In this study, an azobenzene-containing ammonium surfactant is designed and synthesized for the fabrication of photoresponsive heparin ionic complexes through the electrostatic complexation with heparin.

DNA liquid crystals with AIE effect toward humidity-indicating biomaterials.

In this study, by fabricating DNA doped with tetraphenylethene-containing ammonium surfactant, the resulting solvent-free DNA ionic complex could undergo a humidity-induced phase change that could be well tracked by the fluorescence signal of the surfactant. Taking advantage of the humidity-induced change in fluorescence, the reported ionic DNA complex could accurately indicate the humidity in real time.

Azobenzene-containing surfactant directs small features of DNA thermotropic liquid crystals via bottom-up and top-down strategies.

Compared to classical block copolymers, the self-assembly of small molecules shows an advantage in addressing small features. As a new type of solvent-free ionic complexes, azobenzene-containing DNA thermotropic liquid crystals (TLCs) form an assembly as block copolymers when using small DNA. However, the self-assembly behavior of such biomaterials has not been fully investigated.