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The living membranes are flexible due to their fluid mosaic nature; however, their bending into different shapes is an active process regulated by specific lipids and proteins. The membrane bending can be transient as seen in vesicles or stable for a long time as in microvilli. Cells regulate the size, location, and duration of the membrane curvature.
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At room temperature, the chair conformer of cyclohexane undergoes rapid ring flipping between two equivalent chair conformers at a rate of approximately 105 times per second. These two chair conformers are in equilibrium. The rapid ring flipping results in the interconversion of the axial proton to an equatorial proton and an equatorial to the axial proton. Such interconversions are too rapid and cannot be detected on the NMR timescale. Hence, the NMR spectrometer cannot distinguish between the...
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DNA Nanotubes as a Versatile Tool to Study Semiflexible Polymers
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Flexible Colloidal Molecules with Directional Bonds and Controlled Flexibility.

Yogesh Shelke1, Fabrizio Camerin2, Susana Marín-Aguilar2

  • 1Soft Matter Physics, Huygens-Kamerlingh Onnes Laboratory, Leiden University, PO Box 9504, Leiden 2300 RA, The Netherlands.

ACS Nano
|June 26, 2023
PubMed
Summary

Researchers created flexible colloidal molecules with controllable motion. These novel building blocks mimic molecular bonds, offering tunable flexibility for advanced materials and microrobotics.

Keywords:
Monte Carlo (MC) simulationsanisotropic shapeconfined motionmultivalent bondsself-assembly

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Area of Science:

  • Soft Matter Physics
  • Materials Science
  • Nanotechnology

Background:

  • Colloidal molecules serve as model systems for molecular behavior and self-assembly.
  • Existing colloidal molecules often lack the restricted motion and bond directionality of real molecules.
  • Colloidal joints enable flexibility but typically allow unrestricted movement.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To engineer flexible colloidal molecules with controllable motion range and bond directionality.
  • To investigate the influence of particle shape and DNA-mediated interactions on molecular motion.
  • To explore temperature as a parameter for switching flexibility in colloidal systems.

Main Methods:

  • Assembly of spherical particles onto DNA-functionalized cubes.
  • Systematic variation of sphere-to-cube size ratios to control coordination numbers.
  • Theoretical modeling and simulations to analyze free-energy landscapes and motion dynamics.
  • Experimental quantification of sphere confinement and facet-switching probability.

Main Results:

  • Flexible colloidal molecules with tunable motion range and bond directionality were successfully created.
  • A critical sphere-to-cube size ratio was identified, above which motion becomes constrained.
  • Temperature was demonstrated as an effective parameter to switch between full and constrained flexibility.
  • The interplay between particle shape, multivalent DNA bonds, and size ratio dictates the effective free-energy landscape.

Conclusions:

  • The developed colloidal molecules offer a platform for studying directional, flexible bonding in self-assembly.
  • These systems provide insights into the phase behavior of materials with controlled flexibility.
  • Potential applications include advanced smart materials and microrobotic components.