title: Insights into the effect of nanoconfinement on molecular interactions.
abstract: Being confined within nanoscale space, substances may exhibit unique physicochemical properties. The effect of nanoconfinement on molecular interactions is of significance, but a sound understanding has not been established yet. Here we present a quantitative study on boronate affinity (covalent) and electrostatic (non-covalent) interactions confined within mesoporous silica. We show that both interactions were enhanced by the confinement and that the enhancement depended on the closeness of the interacting location, as well as on the difference between the pore size and the molecular size. The overall enhancement could reach 3 orders of magnitude.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Life Science, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Nanjing University, 22 Hankou Road, Nanjing, 210093, China. zhenliu@nju.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Shuangshou
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ye
authors.forename: Daojin
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Zhen
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Xingcai
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wu