Liquid Crystalline Materials for Biological Applications

Lowe, Aaron; Abbott, Nicholas L.

doi:10.1021/cm202632m

Cited by 163 publications

(138 citation statements)

References 100 publications

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“…Though the LCs on solid substrates can detect bio/chemical molecules, it requires to be performed in air at dry state, considering many bio-interactions happened in aqueous solutions, it turned out the LC-aqueous interface is a suitable system to investigate the interfacial phenomena in real time. There are several reviews concerning to this topic [5,6,28]. In a typical experimental setup ( Figure 5), LCs are supported by TEM grid sitting on top of OTS-coated glass, which gives a homeotropic anchoring (LCs align perpendicular to the substrate).…”

Section: Lc-aqueous Interfacesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Beyond displays: The recent progress of liquid crystals for bio/chemical detections

Dong

Yang

2013

Chin. Sci. Bull.

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Liquid crystals (LCs) are often known as electronic displays and have become ubiquitous in our daily life, apart from that, in the past 10 years, LCs have been investigated as exquisitely sensitive reporters for developing new molecular sensing and detection tools. The unique and primary advantage of this class of intriguing materials is the perturbation of the local ordering LCs at molecular scale by bio/chemical species can be communicated within LC molecules and extended over microns, allowing the observation of the optical signals by microscope or even the naked eye. Therefore, it provides a new platform for developing bio/chemical detection and potentially label-free sensing systems. In March 1888, a young botanist called Friedrich Reinitzer [1] first found that esters of cholesterol appeared to have two melting points between which the liquid showed iridescent colors and birefringence. Actually he discovered a new phase of matter: a liquid crystalline phase, distinguished from solids, liquids and gases that are already familiar to us [2]. Substances in this fourth state are called liquid crystals (LCs), flowing like a conventional liquid and exhibiting orientational order like a crystalline solid. In general, the molecules forming LCs are anisotropic, either rod-like or disc-like. There are two basic classes of LCs: thermotropic and lyotropic. In the thermotropic system, the liquid crystalline phase only exists within a particular temperature range, between a melting point, T m , and an upper transition temperature, T c (Figure 1). In the lyotropic system, LCs possess polar and non-polar parts within the same molecule. In a certain concentration range, molecules organize themselves into ordered structures showing LC properties. This review will not discuss lyotropes further and focus on thermotropic LCs, especially 4-cyano-4′-pentylbiphenyl (5CB), which exhibits liquid crystallinity in the nematic phase at room temperature, a simple and handy choice for constructing optical detectors performed at ambient condition. The key principle of employing LCs for molecular detection is illustrated in Figure 2. The local interruption of LC ordering at the molecular scale can be amplified to micron

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Section: Lc-aqueous Interfacesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The local interruption of LC ordering at the molecular scale can be amplified to micron scale, and transduces the anchoring transition into measurable optical output [3][4][5][6][7]. Owing to these fascinating properties, the LC-based analysis has great potential for developing rapid, simple and label-free detection.…”

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confidence: 99%

Beyond displays: The recent progress of liquid crystals for bio/chemical detections

Dong

Yang

2013

Chin. Sci. Bull.

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“…Liquid crystals (LCs), a delicate phase of matter, have recently been successfully used for the design of sensors for biological applications 5,6 involving lipids, 7 oligopeptides, 8 proteins, 9 mesogens, 10 DNA, 11 and several enzymatic processes. 12,13 Because of the importance of glucose monitoring, several attempts have been made to develop distinctive LC-based glucose sensors both by our group 14 and other researchers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimization of a Liquid Crystal‐based Sensory Platform for Monitoring Enzymatic Glucose Oxidation

Wei

Jang

2016

Bulletin Korean Chem Soc

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Managing glucose levels in human blood is extremely important for the treatment of diabetes. Here, an innovative sensory strategy has been developed to monitor the enzymatic activities of glucose and glucose oxidase by using confined liquid crystal (LC) birefringent droplet patterns. Acidic products released during the glucose oxidation process lead to a slight decrease in the pH of aqueous systems that can be monitored by pH-sensitive LC materials. Of the existing pH-sensitive LC materials, dodecanoic aciddoped 4-cyano-4 0 -pentylbiphenyl is inexpensive and easily adjusted to satisfy the 7.4 AE 0.05 pH requirement of human blood. Moreover, the orientational alignment of capillary-confined pH-responsive LCs can be disrupted at the aqueous/LC interface following a slight decrease in the critical pH of aqueous reaction systems, which results in an optical signal that can be observed with the naked eye by using polarizing optical microscopy. Based on the stable LC droplet patterns generated by the cylindrical confinement system, the functionalized LCs can selectively detect glucose at concentrations as low as 0.1 pM. This study further advances the previously reported LC-based glucose monitoring systems by reducing production costs and instituting a smarter LC sensory design. This improved system shows potential for the use in clinical bioassay applications.

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“…Abbott et al (2010) (Lockwood et al, 2006) and Fang et al (2003) have provided significant evidence that liquid crystals (LCs) can sense the growth, orientational order, and differentiation of cells. In particular, Abbott reported that the orientational order of nematic LCs is coupled with the orientational order of cells via a thin layer of Matrigel® (Lockwood et al, 2006;Lowe and Abbott, 2012). Nematic LC molecules also align at cell surfaces; this alignment depends on the cell type, i.e., their shape.…”

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confidence: 99%

Role of Surfactant during Microemulsion Photopolymerization for the Creation of Three-Dimensional Liquid Crystal Elastomer Microsphere Spatial Cell Scaffolds

et al. 2016

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Three-dimensional (3D) cell scaffolds based on nematic liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) microsphere architectures support the attachment and proliferation of C2C12 myoblasts, neuroblastomas (SHSY5Y), and human dermal fibroblasts (hDF). The microsphere spatial cell scaffolds were prepared by an oil-in-water microemulsion photopolymerization of reactive nematic mesogens in the presence of various surfactants, and the as-prepared scaffold constructs are composed of smooth surface microspheres with diameter ranging from 10 to 30 μm. We here investigate how the nature and type of surfactant used during the microemulsion photopolymerization impacts both the size and size distribution of the resulting microspheres and their surface morphology, i.e., the surface roughness.

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Liquid Crystalline Materials for Biological Applications

Cited by 163 publications

References 100 publications

Beyond displays: The recent progress of liquid crystals for bio/chemical detections

Beyond displays: The recent progress of liquid crystals for bio/chemical detections

Optimization of a Liquid Crystal‐based Sensory Platform for Monitoring Enzymatic Glucose Oxidation

Role of Surfactant during Microemulsion Photopolymerization for the Creation of Three-Dimensional Liquid Crystal Elastomer Microsphere Spatial Cell Scaffolds

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