Spotlights on Recent JACS Publications

摘要

Drawing on inspiration from naturally occurring biopolymers, scientists have aimed to create artificial synthetic molecules that are able to adopt well-defined, stable secondary structures with functional capabilities. Such oligomeric molecules, known as foldamers, have enormous potential for applications ranging from biomaterials to biosensing and therapeutics. To date, foldamers-in particular foldamer capsules-have been largely limited to use in organic solvents, a characteristic that would limit their use in biological applications. Researchers led by Gilles Guichard present the first report of a water-soluble foldamer assembly capable of recognizing and encapsulating simple molecules in aqueous solution (DOI: 10.1021/jacs.7b00181).