Molecular "chaperones" guide the spontaneous formation of a 15-component hydrogen-bonded assembly.
Chaperones are small molecules that assist in the folding of naturally occurring peptides. There are no examples of small molecules acting as chaperones in the self-assembly of synthetic noncovalent assemblies. In this communication we describe an unprecedented example of the "chaperone effect" in the noncovalent synthesis of organic nanostructures. Tetrarosette assemblies 2(3).(BuCYA)(12) form quantitatively in CHCl(3) at room temperature upon mixing tetramelamine 2 with N-butylcyanurate (BuCYA) in the presence of 5,5-diethylbarbituric acid (DEB). Without the DEB units present, only oligomeric assemblies are formed that cannot rearrange to the tetrarosettes by themselves. The DEB units act as molecular "chaperones" by preorganizing the tetramelamine units for the spontaneous assembly of the tetrarosette structure.
Paraschiv
Vasile
V
Laboratory of Supramolecular Chemistry and Technology, MESA(+) Research Institute, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands.
Crego-Calama
Mercedes
M
Ishi-i
Tsutomu
T
Padberg
Clemens J
CJ
Timmerman
Peter
P
Reinhoudt
David N
DN
D001463:Barbiturates / Q000737:chemistry*; D006860:Hydrogen Bonding; D007700:Kinetics; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D018832:Molecular Chaperones / Q000737:chemistry*; D018716:Molecular Mimicry; D014227:Triazines / Q000737:chemistry*
D001463:Barbiturates; D018832:Molecular Chaperones; D014227:Triazines; C004632:cyanuric acid; C032232:barbituric acid