ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2017
Molecular photoswitches mediating the strain-driven disassembly of supramolecular tubules.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers.
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Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed.
- Light and Dark Cycles Control the Structural Evolution of Photoresponsive Supramolecular Systems.Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English) · 2026Article
- Temperature-Responsive Supramolecular Chiral Switch Achieved by Macrocyclic Confinement.JACS Au · 2026Article
- Light-Triggered Disassembly of Peptide Nanostructures.Chembiochem : a European journal of chemical biology · 2025Article
- Inversion of supramolecular chirality by photo-enhanced secondary nucleation.Nature nanotechnology · 2025Article
- Responsive Supramolecular Polymers for Diagnosis and Treatment.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- Photo-responsive hole formation in the monolayer membrane wall of a supramolecular nanotube for quick recovery of encapsulated protein.Nanoscale advances · 2022Article
- Biasing the Hierarchy Motifs of Nanotoroids: from 1D Nanotubes to 2D Porous Networks.Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English) · 2022Article
- Non-uniform Photoinduced Unfolding of Supramolecular Polymers Leading to Topological Block Nanofibers.Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English) · 2021Article
- Light-controlled micron-scale molecular motion.Nature chemistry · 2021Article
- Molecular photoswitches in aqueous environments.Chemical Society reviews · 2021Review
- Controlling Exchange Pathways in Dynamic Supramolecular Polymers by Controlling Defects.ACS nano · 2021Article
- Rational design of a photoswitchable DNA glue enabling high regulatory function and supramolecular chirality transfer.Chemical science · 2021Article
- Discordant Supramolecular Fibres Reversibly Depolymerised by Temperature and Light.Chemistry (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) · 2021Article
- Molecular Photoswitching in Confined Spaces.Accounts of chemical research · 2020Article
- Supramolecular Chirality in Azobenzene-Containing Polymer System: Traditional Postpolymerization Self-Assembly Versus In Situ Supramolecular Self-Assembly Strategy.International journal of molecular sciences · 2020Review
- Molecular Factors Controlling the Isomerization of Azobenzenes in the Cavity of a Flexible Coordination Cage.Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2020Article
- Photodynamic Control of the Chain Length in Supramolecular Polymers: Switching an Intercalator into a Chain Capper.Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2020Article
- Influenza as a molecular walker.Chemical science · 2020Review
- Mechanical adaptability of artificial muscles from nanoscale molecular action.Nature communications · 2019Article
- Mechanistic Insights into the Self-Assembly of an Acid-Sensitive Photoresponsive Supramolecular Polymer.Chemistry (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) · 2019Article
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10 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Chemists have created molecular machines and switches with specific mechanical responses that were typically demonstrated in solution, where mechanically relevant motion is dissipated in the Brownian storm. The next challenge consists of designing specific mechanisms through which the action of individual molecules is transmitted to a supramolecular architecture, with a sense of directionality. Cellular microtubules are capable of meeting such a challenge. While their capacity to generate pushing forces by ratcheting growth is well known, conversely these versatile machines can also pull microscopic objects apart through a burst of their rigid tubular structure. One essential feature of this disassembling mechanism is the accumulation of strain in the tubules, which develops when tubulin dimers change shape, triggered by a hydrolysis event. We envision a strategy toward supramolecular machines generating directional pulling forces by harnessing the mechanically purposeful motion of molecular switches in supramolecular tubules. Here, we report on wholly synthetic, water-soluble, and chiral tubules that incorporate photoswitchable building blocks in their supramolecular architecture. Under illumination, these tubules display a nonlinear operation mode, by which light is transformed into units of strain by the shape changes of individual switches, until a threshold is reached and the tubules unleash the strain energy. The operation of this wholly synthetic and stripped-down system compares to the conformational wave by which cellular microtubules disassemble. Additionally, atomistic simulations provide molecular insight into how strain accumulates to induce destabilization. Our findings pave the way toward supramolecular machines that would photogenerate pulling forces, at the nanoscale and beyond.
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