Divalent Multilinking Bonds Control Growth and Morphology of Nanopolymers

Area of Science:

• Nanotechnology
• Materials Science
• Biophysics

Background:

• Divalent interactions drive nanoscale object assembly into linear architectures, mimicking molecular polymers.
• Janus particles with two binding patches form linear structures, but nanoscale patches differ from pointlike molecular bonds.
• The impact of molecular linkage characteristics on assembly morphology is not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• Investigate the assembly behavior of model divalent nanomonomers using DNA nanocuboids.
• Explore how tailorable multilinking bonds influence nanomonomer reactivity and assembly.
• Determine the relationship between linkage properties and emergent nanostructures.

Main Methods:

• Utilized DNA nanocuboids as model divalent nanomonomers with tunable multilinking bonds.
• Performed experimental studies to observe nanomonomer assembly and resulting morphologies.
• Employed molecular dynamics simulations to rationalize experimental findings.

Main Results:

• Nanomonomer reactivity and assembly morphology are significantly influenced by individual molecular linkage characteristics and collective properties.
• Observed the formation of linear nanopolymers, a typical outcome for divalent nanomonomers.
• Demonstrated an increase in effective valence with longer linkages, resulting in nanopolymer bundling.

Conclusions:

• The characteristics of molecular linkages play a critical role in controlling nanoscale assembly and emergent morphologies.
• Tailoring linkage properties offers a method to guide the formation of complex nanostructures beyond simple linear polymers.
• Findings provide insights into designing and controlling self-assembly processes at the nanoscale.