Self-assembled artificial microtubules developed

Science Daily  January 17, 2020
Microtubule is one of the principal cellular components formed via hierarchical self‐assembly of nanometer‐sized tubulin heterodimers into protofilaments, which then associate to form a micron‐length‐scale, multi‐stranded tube. Researchers in South Korea discovered that a cucurbituril (pumpkin-shaped chemical compound)-based host-guest complex polymerized into a linear polymer chain, which was further associated with each other into a hollow microtubule via van der Waals interactions arising from their shape self-complementarity. It formed a tubular structure with a length over tens of micrometers. The polymer chain became straight and stiff by itself, and eventually LEGO brick-like shape emerged during the growth of polymer. Molecular dynamic simulation suggests that the tubular assembly consists of 8 polypseudorotaxanes that wind together to form a 4.5 nm wide multi‐stranded tubule…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE