Crystalline Dipeptide Nanobelts Based on Solid–Solid Phase Transformation Self-Assembly and Their Polarization Imaging of Cells

Abstract

Controlled phase transformation involving biomolecular organization to generate dynamic biomimetic selfassembly systems and functional materials is currently an appealing topic of research on molecular materials. Herein, we achieve by ultrasonic irradiation the direct solid−solid transition of bioinspired dipeptide organization from triclinic structured aggregates to nanofibers and eventually to monoclinic nanobelts with strong polarized luminescence. It is suggested that the locally high temperature and pressure produced by cavitation effects cleaves the hydrophobic, π−π stacking or self-locked intramolecular interactions involved in one phase state and then rearranges the molecular packing to form another well-ordered aromatic dipeptide crystalline structure. Such a sonication-modulated solid−solid phase transition evolution is governed by distinct molecular interactions at different stages of structural organization. The resulting crystalline nanobelts are for the first time applied for polarization imaging of cells, which can be advantageous to directly inspect the uptake and fate of nanoscale delivery platforms without labeling of fluorescent dyes. This finding provides a new perspective to comprehend the dynamic evolution of biomolecular self-organization with energy supply by an external field and open up a facile and versatile approach of using anisotropic nanostructures for polarization imaging of cells and even live organisms in future.

Hierarchical electrospun nanofibers treated by solvent vapor annealing as air filtration mat for high-efficiency PM2.5 capture

“…In addition, the PCL/PEO fibers (Sample 1) prepared for different SVA treatment durations were characterized by XRD, which was important for self-assembled composite materials [68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75]. The XRD pattern of PCL (Fig.…”

Self‐Assembly of Di‐Guanine Peptide Nucleic Acid Amphiphiles into Fractal Patterns

“…Yan et al. have shown that similar crystalline nanobelts can be beneficial to precisely inspect the nanoscale delivery by using polarization imaging of cells without using labeled fluorescent dyes . As crystals were very thin and delicate, we were not able to perform single crystal diffraction experiments.…”

A technology of preparing MnO2 nanowire from the low grade manganese ore

“…One-dimensional nanorods and nanowires are able to enhance electronic/ionic conductivity and shorten ion transport pathway for faradaic reactions. [20][21][22][23][24] In China, the resources of low grade manganese ore is very rich, and it is not exploited and utilized due to the low content of manganese and high cost. In this paper, MnO 2 nanowire was prepared successfully from the manganese dioxide by hydrothermal method.…”