Molecular self-assembly
Channel: all the knowledge of the universe PRINCIPIA
Date: 2022-01-22

Molecular self-assembly, by Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=10115658 / CC BY SA 3.0

#Supramolecular_chemistry
#Self-organization
AFM image of napthalenetetracarboxylic diimide molecules on silver interacting via hydrogen bonding at 77 K. （"Hydrogen bonds" in the top image are exaggerated
by artifacts of the imaging technique.） NC-AFM imaging of the molecular self-assembly process of 2-aminoterephthalic acid molecules on calcite（104）.
STM image of self-assembled Br4-pyrene molecules on Au（111） surface （top） and its model （bottom; pink spheres are Br atoms）.
Molecular self-assembly is the process by which molecules adopt a defined arrangement without guidance or management from an outside source.
There are two types of self-assembly.
These are intramolecular self-assembly and intermolecular self-assembly.
Commonly, the term molecular self-assembly refers to intermolecular self-assembly, while the intramolecular analog is more commonly called folding.
Molecular self-assembly is a key concept in supramolecular chemistry.
This is because assembly of molecules in such systems is directed through non-covalent interactions （e.g., hydrogen bonding, metal coordination,
hydrophobic forces, van der Waals forces, pi-stacking interactions, and/or electrostatic） as well as electromagnetic interactions.
Common examples include the formation of colloids, biomolecular condensates, micelles, vesicles, liquid crystal phases, and Langmuir monolayers by surfactant molecules.
Further examples of supramolecular assemblies demonstrate that a variety of different shapes and sizes can be obtained using molecular self-assembly.
Molecular self-assembly allows the construction of challenging molecular topologies.
One example is Borromean rings, interlocking rings wherein removal of one ring unlocks each of the other rings.
DNA has been used to prepare a molecular analog of Borromean rings.
More recently, a similar structure has been prepared using non-biological building blocks.
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