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Updated: Sep 24, 2025
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Design and Synthesis of a Reconfigurable DNA Accordion Rack
Published on: August 15, 2018
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Feedback-controlled topological reconfiguration of molecular assemblies for programming supramolecular structures.
Panpan Li1, Aixin Song2, Jingcheng Hao2
1National Engineering Research Center for Colloidal Materials, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, 250100, China. wangxu@sdu.edu.cn.
Soft Matter
|May 9, 2022
Summary
This study introduces a novel G-quartet system that exhibits fuel-driven switching between states, enabling topological reconfiguration for dynamic material control in applications like transient electronics.
Area of Science:
- Supramolecular Chemistry
- Materials Science
- Biomolecular Engineering
Background:
- Nonequilibrium assembly involves fuel-driven switching between associating and nonassociating biomolecular states.
- This dynamic model is commonly applied to synthetic systems.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a G-quartet-based nonequilibrium system using guanosine 5'-monophosphate disodium salt hydrate and urease.
- To investigate the phase behaviors and assembly mechanisms of this novel system.
Main Methods:
- Fuel-driven co-assembly of guanosine 5'-monophosphate disodium salt hydrate and urease.
- Induction of macroscopic switching between precipitates and hydrogels using lanthanum(III) ions.
- Quantitative analysis of molecular switching and topological reconfiguration.
Main Results:
- Lanthanum(III) ions induced dynamic switching between precipitates and hydrogels.
- Molecules switched between associating states without a nonassociating intermediate, indicating topological reconfiguration.
- Precise control over phase behavior of active materials was achieved.
Conclusions:
- A new G-quartet-based nonequilibrium system with unusual phase behaviors was developed.
- The system demonstrated a topological reconfiguration mechanism for molecular assembly.
- The active hydrogels show potential for fluid confinement and transient electronics.
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