Special Issue "Molecular Biomimetics and Materials Design"

Guest Editor
Prof. Dr. Lyle Isaacs
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA
Website: http://www.chem.umd.edu/Faculty_Directory/profile.php?facID=20
E-Mail:
Interests: supramolecular chemistry; molecular recognition; molecular containers; molecular clips; glycoluril; cucurbit[n]urils; self-sorting; complex systems; supramolecular catalysis

Guest Editor
Prof. Dr. Kwang J. Kim
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, USA
Website: http://wolfweb.unr.edu/homepage/kwangkim/
E-Mail:

Dear Colleagues,

Nature is unquestionably the pre-eminent chemist. One must only consider the myriad chemical reactions and non-covalent interactions that are ongoing simultaneous with exquisite control in both space and time to be awe inspired. A large number of chemists and biochemists are involved in the dissection of these complex biological systems by understanding the precise chemical behavior of each Natural component. Another segment of the chemical and biochemical community aims to apply the understanding of natural systems to create man-made molecules, materials, machines, and systems with complex structure and function. This special issue is dedicated to the chemistry of such biomimetic systems at the molecular, macromolecular, and materials levels. As such this special issue encompasses a broad range of topics of contemporary interest in chemistry.

Lyle Isaacs, Ph.D.
Kwang J. Kim, Ph.D.
Guest Editors

Related Special Issues in other Journals

Molecular Biomimetics and Materials Design in Materials

Submission

All papers should be submitted to ijms@mdpi.org. To be published continuously until the deadline and papers will be listed together at the special issue website.

Submitted papers should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere. All papers are refereed through a peer-review process. A guide for authors is available on the Instructions for Authors page.The International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed monthly journal published by Molecular Diversity Preservation International.

Open Access publication fees are 800 CHF per paper. English correction fees and/or formatting fees (250 CHF) will be added in certain cases (1050 CHF per paper for those papers that require extensive additional formatting and/or English corrections).

• biomimetic systems
• stimuli responsive materials
• polymers
• molecular machines
• self-assembly
• supramolecular
• systems
• sensing systems
• surface chemistry
• systems chemistry
• complexity

Type of Paper: Review
Title: Amino Acids-Nucleotides Biomolecular Recognition: From Biological Occurrence to Affinity Chromatography
Authors: F. Sousa, C. Cruz and J. A. Queiroz
Affiliations: CICS – Centro de Investigação em Ciências da Saúde, Universidade da Beira Interior, 6201-001 Covilhã, Portugal
Abstract: Interaction between proteins and nucleic acids are frequent in several biological phenomena such as chromosomes organization, transcription or apoptosis. These mechanisms are only possible with the involvement of proteins presenting domains able to recognise specific DNA sequences. The evaluation of the amino acid-nucleotide recognition is being investigated considering the chemical and stereochemical requirements that markedly influence the specificity of the interaction. For this purpose, we analyse datasets that categorize specific parameters for predicting the association preferences at atomic level and the geometry that favours the interaction, using X-ray structures, NMR and modelling data. Recent developments in affinity chromatography field are also discussed since some advances were accomplished by exploiting a specific interaction between immobilized amino acids and plasmid DNA. The knowledge of the binding specificity and the structure will represent an advance in several scientific areas from the molecular biology to the biotechnology or biopharmaceutical technologies.

Type of Paper: Article
Title: Rotational Motion of Polymer Actuator
Authors: Shingo Maeda, Yusuke Hara and Shuji Hashimoto
Affiliations: Waseda University, Japan
Abstract: This paper describes a novel Rotational polymer actuator driven by the Belousov-Zhanbotinsky (BZ) reaction. Generally it is known that the BZ reaction generates the redox oscillation, and when it occurs inside a thermo-sensitive polymer gel, a spontaneous mechanical oscillation synchronized with BZ reaction is generated. When the chemical energy in the BZ reaction is supplied enough for the polymer gel, the self-oscillation continues autonomously. The aim of our research is to construct a chemical actuator that consumes the chemical energy in the chemical reactions to generate a kinetic energy like biological systems. We designed an actuator made of silicone lubber mounted on the self-oscillating gel and achieved directional and rotational motion of actuator by using mechanical oscillation of the gel.

Type of Paper: Review
Title: Biomimetic Polymers for Application in Crystallization and Chiral Separations
Authors: Dana D. Madina and Yitzhak Mastai *
Affiliations: Department of Chemistry, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, 52900 Israel; * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-mail: mastai@mail.biu.ac.il; Tel. 972-3-5317681; Fax:972-3-7384053
Abstract: In the past decade, biomimetic polymers have received great attention due to their potential applications to fields such as crystallization and separation of chiral compounds. This review presents an overview on the synthetic strategies for the preparation of biomimetic polymers as well as their applications, with emphasis on our group's recent advances in enantioselective crystallization on nanostructured polymeric chiral surfaces.

Type of Paper: Review
Title: Molecular Actuators, Engines, Motors, Sensors and Muscles-A Review
Authors: Mohsen Shahinpoor
Affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469, USA; E-mail: mohsen.shahinpoor@maine.edu
Abstract: This paper presents a state-of-the-art on biological molecular actuators, molecular engines, molecular motors, molecular muscles and molecular sensors and their comparison to polymeric artificial muscles. The goal is to mimic some of the actions of biological molecular motors, to satisfy the need to develop actuators or artificial muscles that can contract in a controllable manner emerged. The actuation mechanism is based on the fact that the actuator materials or assemblies are able to convert optical, electrical, thermal or chemical stimulus into mechanical work through dimensional reconfiguration. Organic materials can be used to create new sensors and actuators capable of measuring physical, chemical, and biological parameters, and of generating controllable forces and displacements. The design principles for molecular-level actuators, engines, motors, muscles and sensors are further discussed followed by a discussion on designing actuating materials at the molecular level and how Nature evolved an elegant actuating system or the biological muscles by developing motor protein molecules, microtubules, dynein, dynaminpolymerases and topoisomerases. Conductive polymers molecular actuators will also be covered. The design of molecular hinges, molecular mechanisms, controlling motion in covalently bonded molecular systems, translational molecular switches, stimuli-responsive molecular shuttles, chemical, electrochemical and light activated molecular motors, engines, actuators and sensors will also be discussed. Molecular motions driven by a chemical reaction, intramolecular complexation/decomplexation processes as a means to make an intermittent degenerate molecular shuttle, metal ion translocation, electrochemically induced motions, transition metal-complexed catenanes and rotaxanes and light-fuelled molecular machines will also be covered.