Vesicle‐Mediated Growth of Tubular Branches and Centimeter‐Long Microtubes from a Single Molecule

Abstract

The mechanism by which small molecules assemble into microscale tubular structures in aqueous solution remains poorly understood, particularly when the initial building blocks are non-amphiphilic molecules and no surfactant is used. It is here shown how a subnanometric molecule, namely p-aminothiophenol (p-ATP), prepared in normal water with a small amount of ethanol, spontaneously assembles into a new class of nanovesicle. Due to Brownian motion, these nanostructures rapidly grow into micrometric vesicles and start budding to yield macroscale tubular branches with a remarkable growth rate of ∼20 μm s⁻¹. A real-time visualization by optical microscopy reveals that tubular growth proceeds by vesicle walk and fusion on the apex (growth cone) and sides of the branches and ultimately leads to the generation of centimeter-long microtubes. This unprecedented growth mechanism is triggered by a pH-activated proton switch and maintained by hydrogen bonding. The vesicle fusion-mediated synthesis suggests that functional microtubes with biological properties can be efficiently prepared with a mixture of appropriate diaminophenyl blocks and the desired macromolecule. The reversibility, timescale, and very high yield (90%) of this synthetic approach make it a valuable model for the investigation of hierarchical and structural transition between organized assemblies with different size scales and morphologies.

2D Protein Supramolecular Nanofilm with Exceptionally Large Area and Emergent Functions

“…Such an interfacial growth mode also allowed a high possibility to obtain the nanofilm with an area being larger than the present size, when replacing the bench‐top setup in the laboratory with engineering equipment in the industry. For a homogeneous macroscopic assembly, a large‐sized assembly exceeding centimeter is hardly achieved due to the amplification on assembly errors, slow assembly kinetics and low assembly efficiency . Such macroscale biomaterial reported herein thus fulfills a key condition for a practical use on engineered macroscopic objects, as demonstrated in the following section of this report.…”

Protein‐Bound Freestanding 2D Metal Film for Stealth Information Transmission

“…The ultrathin protein layer imparted the film with dynamically tunable conductivity in response to external stimuli. For a homogeneous macroscopic assembly, a large‐sized assembly exceeding centimeters is hardly achieved due to the amplification of assembly errors, slow assembly kinetics, and low assembly efficiency . The large‐area conductive freestanding silver film with an ultrathin protein bonding layer inside thus fulfills a key condition for practical use in engineered macroscopic objects, e.g., flexible sensors, as demonstrated below.…”