Three-dimensional lock and key colloids.

Colloids with well-defined multicavities are synthesized through the hydrolytic removal of silica cluster templates from organo-silica hybrid patchy particles. The geometry of the cavities stems from the originally assembled cluster templates, displaying well-defined three-dimensional symmetries, ranging from spherical, linear, triangular, tetrahedral, trigonal dipyramidal, octahedral, to pentagonal dipyramidal. The concave surface of the cavities is smooth, and the cavity shallowness and size can be varied. These particles with multicavities can act as "lock" particles with multiple "key holes". Up to n "key" particles can self-assemble into the lock particles via depletion interaction, resulting in multivalent, site-specific, reversible, and flexible bonding.

[1]  Toward a Tetravalent Chemistry of Colloids , 2002, cond-mat/0206552.

[2]  Yu Wang,et al.  Colloids with valence and specific directional bonding , 2012, Nature.

[3]  David A. Weitz,et al.  Surface roughness directed self-assembly of patchy particles into colloidal micelles , 2012, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[4]  Serge Ravaine,et al.  Synthesis and site-specific functionalization of tetravalent, hexavalent, and dodecavalent silica particles. , 2013, Angewandte Chemie.

[5]  S. Glotzer,et al.  Self-Assembly of Patchy Particles. , 2004, Nano letters.

[6]  Qian Chen,et al.  Directed self-assembly of a colloidal kagome lattice , 2014 .

[7]  S. Granick,et al.  Supracolloidal Reaction Kinetics of Janus Spheres , 2011, Science.

[8]  Vinothan N Manoharan,et al.  Dense Packing and Symmetry in Small Clusters of Microspheres , 2003, Science.

[9]  Seung-Man Yang,et al.  Colloidal Clusters of Silica or Polymer Microspheres , 2004 .

[10]  Wei Li,et al.  Step-Growth Polymerization of Inorganic Nanoparticles , 2010, Science.

[11]  Gi-Ra Yi,et al.  Shaping colloids for self-assembly , 2013, Nature Communications.

[12]  Seung‐Man Yang,et al.  Self-organization of bidisperse colloids in water droplets. , 2005, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[13]  S. Glotzer,et al.  Anisotropy of building blocks and their assembly into complex structures. , 2007, Nature materials.

[14]  C. Mirkin,et al.  Nanoparticle shape anisotropy dictates the collective behavior of surface-bound ligands. , 2011, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[15]  David J. Pine,et al.  Lock and key colloids through polymerization-induced buckling of monodisperse silicon oil droplets , 2010 .

[16]  A. Tkachenko,et al.  DNA-programmed mesoscopic architecture. , 2013, Physical review. E, Statistical, nonlinear, and soft matter physics.

[17]  Jian Zhang,et al.  DNA-nanoparticle superlattices formed from anisotropic building blocks. , 2010, Nature materials.

[18]  George C Schatz,et al.  Using DNA to Design Plasmonic Metamaterials with Tunable Optical Properties , 2020, Advanced materials.

[19]  Marcus Weck,et al.  Patchy particle self-assembly via metal coordination. , 2013, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[20]  E. Fischer.  Einfluss der Configuration auf die Wirkung der Enzyme , 1894 .

[21]  S. Sacanna,et al.  Lock and key colloids , 2009, Nature.