Organic catenane self-assembles in acidic water

Monday, November 23, 2015 - 09:30 in Biology & Nature

(Phys.org)—There are many naturally-occurring supermolecular structures. Among them are catenanes. From the Latin for "chain", a catenane is comprised of two interlocked molecules, and have been found in the mitochondrial DNA of HeLa and leukemia cells. Researchers are interested in synthetically deriving catenanes using naturally-occurring conditions in an effort to understand how they formed in natural as well as exploit their unique architecture for biological and technological uses. Catenane chemistry is typically done in organic solvents, but biological applications are predominantly in aqueous environments. Hao Li, Huacheng Zhang, Aaron D. Lammer, Ming Wang, Xiaopeng Li, Vincent M. Lynch, and Jonathan L. Sessler from Zhejiang University, The University of Texas at Austin, Texas State University, and Shanghai University have isolated and characterized an organic catenane that was made using a one-step synthesis in an aqueous acidic solvent and in relatively high yields. Furthermore, they demonstrated that their catenane is environmentally tunable and...

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