Self-Assembled Materials
Self-assembly describes the autonomous organization of components into defined structures via intermolecular interactions. This process can be controlled by a proper design of molecules and an in-depth understanding of interactions at play and their interplay.
Nature offers many examples of self-assembled materials, from phospholipid bilayers forming cell membranes to the DNA double helix formation, from protein folding into complex shapes to virus capsids, etc.
At CMN, we exploit this non-covalent approach for the design and molecular modeling of self-assembled monolayers on surfaces, supramolecular polymers, and chiral assemblies of interest for catalysis, sensors, and bioapplications.