While supramolecular hosts capable of binding and transporting anions and ion pairs are now widely available, self-assembled architectures are still rare, even though they offer an inherent mechanism for the release of the guest ion(s). In this work, we report the dynamic covalent self-assembly of tripodal, urea-based anion cryptates that are held together by two orthoester bridgeheads. These hosts exhibit affinity for anions such as Cl À , Br À or I À in the moderate range that is typically advantageous for applications in membrane transport.In unprecedented experiments, we were able to dissociate the Cs•Cl ion pair by simultaneously assembling suitably sized orthoester hosts around the Cs + and the Cl À ion.

The development of new methods for the rapid, sensitive, and selective detection of SARS-CoV-2 is a key factor in overcoming the global pandemic that we have been facing for over a year. In this work, we focused on the preparation of magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers (MMIPs) based on the self-polymerization of dopamine at the surface of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs). Instead of using the whole SARS-CoV-2 virion as a template, a peptide of the viral spike protein, which is present at the viral surface, was innovatively used for the imprinting step. Thus, problems associated with the infectious nature of the virus along with its potential instability when used as a template and under the polymerization conditions were avoided. Dopamine was selected as a functional monomer following a rational computational screening approach that revealed not only a high binding energy of the dopamine–peptide complex but also multi-point interactions across the entire peptide template surface as opposed to other monomers with similar binding affinity. Moreover, variables affecting the imprinting efficiency including polymerization time and amount of peptide and dopamine were experimentally evaluated. Finally, the selectivity of the prepared MMIPs vs. other peptide sequences (i.e., from Zika virus) was evaluated, demonstrating that the developed MMIPs were only specific for the target SARS-CoV-2 peptide.

We report the synthesis of conjugated polymer nanoparticles carrying stable luminescent radical units. These monodisperse conjugated radical nanoparticles can be tuned in their diameter over several hundred nanometers. They are stable in aqueous medium and highly luminescent in the red and near-infrared spectra, representing a powerful future tool for bioimaging. Moreover, the polymer nanoparticles exhibit paramagnetic properties, making them highly suitable for dual-mode optical and magnetic resonance imaging. In this study, we investigate their synthesis as well as optical and magnetic properties, and use quantum mechanical calculations to elucidate the effect of the conjugated polymer backbone and electron-withdrawing substituents on the electronic properties of the open-shell molecule in the polymer network of the particles.

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We report the synthesis of conjugated polymer nanoparticles carrying stable luminescent radical units. These monodisperse conjugated radical nanoparticles can be tuned in their diameter over several hundred nanometers. They are stable in aqueous medium and highly luminescent in the red and near infrared spectrum, representing a powerful future tool for bioimaging. Moreover, the polymer nanoparticles exhibit paramagnetic properties, making them highly suitable for dual-mode optical and magnetic resonance imaging. In this study, we investigate their synthesis, optical and magnetic properties, and use quantum mechanical calculations to elucidate the effect of the conjugated polymer backbone and electron-withdrawing substituents on the electronic properties of the open-shell molecule in the polymer network of the particles.