Abstract
The dynamic nature of supramolecular polymers has a key role in their organization. Yet, the manipulation of their dimensions and polarity remains a challenge. Here, the minimalistic diphenylalanine building block was applied to demonstrate control of nano-assemblies growth and shrinkage using microfluidics. To fine-tune differential local environments, peptide nanotubes were confined by micron-scale pillars and subjected to monomer flows of various saturation levels to control assembly and disassembly. The small-volume device allows the rapid adjustment of conditions within the system. A simplified kinetic model was applied to calculate parameters of the growth mechanism. Direct real-time microscopy analysis revealed that different peptide derivatives show unidirectional or bidirectional axial dimension variation. Atomistic simulations show that unidirectional growth is dictated by the differences in the axial ends, as observed in the crystalline order of symmetry. This work lays foundations for the rational control of nano-materials dimensions for applications in biomedicine and material science.
Highlights
The dynamic nature of supramolecular polymers has a key role in their organization
Preformed peptide nanotubes were restricted by micron-scale pillars within a microfluidic device and exposed to monomer flows of various saturation levels to manipulate the assembly process
Molecular dynamics simulations show that unidirectional growth is due to differences in the axial ends, as observed in the crystalline order of symmetry
Summary
The dynamic nature of supramolecular polymers has a key role in their organization. Yet, the manipulation of their dimensions and polarity remains a challenge. Supramolecular polymers have been extensively studied due to their notable chemical and physical properties, ease of production and functional diversity[1,2,3,4,5].The dynamic nature of supramolecular polymers is the basis for attributes such as self-healing[6], structural modulation[7] and controlled reorganization[8,9,10] These qualities are highly desirable for nanotechnological device development for future applications in biomedicine and materials science[11,12,13]. Molecular dynamics simulations show that unidirectional growth is due to differences in the axial ends, as observed in the crystalline order of symmetry This microfluidic platform can provide insights into self-assembly mechanisms and kinetics that could be utilized for the design and fabrication of dynamically controlled nano-devices useful in the fields of bionanotechnology and nano-materials
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