Woo‐Dong Jang

Crown ethers, discovered by the winner of the Nobel Prize Charles Pedersen, are cyclic chemical compounds that consist of a ring or multiple rings containing several ether groups that are capable of binding alkali ions. A smart fluorescent probe containing a crown ether moiety could be developed as a sensor for metal ions, anions and other bio-molecules and be further applied to monitor the relevant biological process in vivo. This review highlights recent advances which can be divided into seve

Porphyrin derivatives are ubiquitous in nature and have important biological roles, such as in light harvesting, oxygen transport, and catalysis. Owing to their intrinsic π-conjugated structure, porphyrin derivatives exhibit characteristic photophysical and electrochemical properties. In biological systems, porphyrin derivatives are associated with various protein molecules through noncovalent interactions. For example, hemoglobin, which is responsible for oxygen transport in most vertebrates, c

ADVERTISEMENT RETURN TO ISSUEPREVCommunicationNEXTDendritic Physical Gel: Hierarchical Self-Organization of a Peptide-Core Dendrimer to Form a Micrometer-Scale Fibrous AssemblyWoo-Dong Jang, Dong-Lin Jiang, and Takuzo AidaView Author Information Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology Graduate School of Engineering The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan Cite this: J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2000, 122, 13, 3232–3233Publication Date (Web):March 17, 2000Publication History R

Photo finish: A polymeric micelle system is formed in aqueous media by electrostatic assembly of an anionic dendrimeric porphyrin and a poly(ethylene glycol)–poly(L-lysine) block copolymer (see picture). The micelles exhibit high photocytotoxicity and stability. The hydrodynamic size (ca. 60 nm) makes this polymeric micelle system suitable for intravenous administration in photodynamic tumor therapy.

Recent advances in supramolecular chemistry have had significant influence on the biomedical applications of materials chemistry. Supramolecular systems are based on weak and reversible non-covalent interactions, such as hydrogen bonding, metal coordination, hydrophobic attractions, van der Waals forces, π–π, and electrostatic interactions. Because of the weak and reversible nature of the molecular interactions in self-assembled supramolecular systems, they are excellent candidates for the desig

Turn on events: A molecular probe consisting of a boradiazaindacene unit conjugated with a dicyano-vinyl group has been designed for the selective and sensitive detection of cyanide by strong fluorescence enhancement in aqueous media (see scheme).

A new type of fluorescent probe (1) with two triazole groups that are conjugated with a carbazole moiety was synthesized by a Cu(I)-catalyzed alkyne-azide click reaction for the selective and sensitive detection of cyanide via fluorescence enhancement by ligand exchange and metal ion removal.

Many layers make light work: Layer-by-layer (LbL) self-assembly of a dendritic porphyrin (red; see picture) and poly(allylamine hydrochloride) (blue) on polystyrene nanoparticles followed by removal of the polystyrene core produces multifunctional hollow nanocapsules. These species can be both loaded with anticancer drugs and used in photodynamic therapy (PDT) and therefore have potential in combined cancer therapy.

A dendrimer porphyrin (DP)-coated gold nanoshell (AuNS-DP) was prepared for the synergistic combination of photodyanmic and photothermal therapy. The resultant AuNS-DP successfully exhibited the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) as well as photothermal effect for the simultaneous application of photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photothermal therapy (PTT).

Fully reversible emission color change is achieved by blending a thermoresponsive polymer with dye hybrids. The emission color can be tuned by changing the mixing ratio of each polymer-dye hybrid.

Red means CN: A new type of diketopyrrolopyrrole-based chromophore has been synthesized as a colorimetric and fluorescent probe for the detection of cyanide using only two reaction steps. Through the addition of cyanide to the chromophore, the fluorescence emission and color were greatly changed in a highly sensitive and selective manner.