Hajime Shigemitsu

Stimuli-responsive hydrogels are intriguing biomaterials useful for spatiotemporal controlled release of drugs, cells, and biological cues, cell engineering for various applications, and medical diagnosis. To date, many physical and chemical stimuli-responsive polymer hydrogels have been developed by chemical modification of polymer chains and cross-linking points. In particular, conjugation with biomolecules to polymers produced promising biomolecule-responsive hydrogels. These examples clearly

We report a simple and effective approach to organic molecules exhibiting bright circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) by combining a chiral cyclic molecular scaffold and multiple excimer-enabling moieties. An α-cyclodextrin (CyD) scaffold was modified with six pyrenyl groups to obtain pyrene-cyclodextrins (PCDs) in a one-step synthesis from commercially available compounds. The PCDs exhibited high molar extinction coefficients (ϵ≈10⁵ M^-1 cm^-1 ), polarized emis

Non-enzymatic proteins including antibodies function as biomarkers and are used as biopharmaceuticals in several diseases. Protein-responsive soft materials capable of the controlled release of drugs and proteins have potential for use in next-generation diagnosis and therapies. Here, we describe a supramolecular/agarose hydrogel composite that can release a protein in response to a non-enzymatic protein. A non-enzymatic protein-responsive system is developed by hybridization of an enzyme-sensit

Photosensitizers (PSs) are critical substances with considerable potential for use in non-invasive photomedicine. Type I PSs, which generate reactive radical species by electron transfer from the excited state induced via photoirradiation, attracted much attention because of their suitability for photodynamic therapy (PDT) irrespective of the oxygen concentration. However, most organic PSs are type II, which activates only oxygen, generating singlet oxygen (¹O₂) via energy

Stimuli-responsive supramolecular assemblies consisting of small molecules are attractive functional materials for biological applications such as drug delivery, medical diagnosis, enzyme immobilization, and tissue engineering. By use of their dynamic and reversible properties, many supramolecular assemblies responsive to a variety of biomolecules have been designed and synthesized. This review focuses on promising strategies for the construction of such dynamic supramolecular assemblies and the

Supramolecular nanofibers (SNFs) composed of low-molecular-weight π-conjugated molecules exhibit attractive optical and electrical properties and are expected to be the next optoelectronic materials. In this work, five crystalline SNFs have been constructed from three dehydrobenzoannulene (DBA) derivatives. The DBAs were designed to assemble in one dimension in a strategy based on anisotropic crystal growth. The crystallinity of the SNFs allowed the molecular arrangements in the SNFs to be deter

The development of photocatalysts is an essential task for clean energy generation and establishing a sustainable society. This paper describes the aggregation-induced photocatalytic activity (AI-PCA) of amphiphilic rhodamines and photocatalytic functions of the supramolecular assemblies. The supramolecular assemblies consisting of amphiphilic rhodamines with octadecyl alkyl chains exhibited significant photocatalytic activity under visible light irradiation in water, while the corresponding mon

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a promising clinical method for treating a wide range of cancers. Recently, PDT employing type I photosensitizers (PSs) has attracted considerable attention owing to the feasibility of efficient PDT under hypoxic conditions. Particularly, type I supramolecular PSs (SPSs) are promising candidates owing to their functional extensibility by facile hybridization. However, type I SPSs are rare, and the development strategy has not been established yet. In this work, we d

Abstract We report a simple and effective approach to organic molecules exhibiting bright circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) by combining a chiral cyclic molecular scaffold and multiple excimer‐enabling moieties. An α‐cyclodextrin ( CyD ) scaffold was modified with six pyrenyl groups to obtain pyrene–cyclodextrins ( PCD s) in a one‐step synthesis from commercially available compounds. The PCDs exhibited high molar extinction coefficients (ϵ≈10 5 M −1 cm −1 ), polarized emission with a good

We report the aggregation-induced photosensitizing activity of a cyanine dye in water and the mechanism. In addition, using the supramolecular assembly, visible-light-driven photooxidation of hydrophobic aromatic compounds in water was successfully performed.

Transformation with every fiber of its being: Dehydrobenzoannulene derivatives with a boomerang shape, dipole moment, and substituents that make diverse interactions enable the construction of stimuli-responsive nanofibers despite the lack of stimuli-responsive groups in these compounds. Interestingly, the supramolecular nanofibers obtained after ultrasonic treatment displayed an 80% decrease in conductivity as compared to untreated nanofibers. This is the first example of an electronic wire for

Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is a crucial chemical with widespread applications in our daily lives and as an energy material. Recently, the generation of H2O2 using light energy has garnered significant attention for its potential contribution to a sustainable society. In particular, near-infrared region (NIR) light-driven H2O2 generation holds great promise for solar energy utilization. However, due to the low energy of NIR light, developing an NIR-driven photocatalyst remains a challenge. In this