Back
A simple method to identify supramolecules in action: Hill coefficients for exergonic self-assembly.
Journal article

A simple method to identify supramolecules in action: Hill coefficients for exergonic self-assembly.

  • Bhosale S Department of Organic Chemistry, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
  • Matile S
  • 2006-09-13
Published in:
  • Chirality. - 2006
Circular Dichroism
Ion Channels
Models, Chemical
Molecular Structure
Protein Denaturation
English Precise supramolecular architecture is often essential for significant function. Simple methods to reliably and rapidly demonstrate the existence of such supramolecular structure and function at relevant concentrations in complex systems are badly needed. Hill plots, describing the dependence of a signal on the n-th power of the monomer concentration, are compatible only with the identification of supramolecules that do not really exist, that is, endergonic self-assembly (Litvinchuk et al., J Am Chem Soc 2004;126:10067). Here, we show that the artificial increase in monomer concentration by chemical denaturation restores compatibility of Hill plots with exergonic self-assembly and affords Hill coefficients n > 1 for stable supramolecules. Recent rigid-rod pi-stack architecture with photosynthetic and ion channel activity is used as timely example, circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy as method of choice for both sensitive and selective detection under relevant conditions.
Language
  • English
Open access status
closed
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://sonar.rero.ch/global/documents/245496
Statistics
Document views: 14 File downloads: