细胞生物学又一里程碑：创造出互锁分子

　　

生物通报道：科学领域的一个巨大挑战就是让两个在化学上不反应的两个个体分子连接在一起形成一个结实的链。现在，由英国和美国的研究人员组成的一个研究组构建出了一个全新的像这种相互间锁在一起的分子新家族。

 

这个研究组由加州纳米系统研究所的所长J. Fraser Stoddart和伦敦皇家学院的David J. Williams教授领导。

 

研究人员将这种新的化合物命名为suitanes。Stoddart表示，发现将一个分子与另外一个分子串在一起的方法是构建人工活细胞系统的前奏。一种suit[5]ane（具有五个分支的suitane）看起来就像穿了衣服的洋娃娃，有两条腿、两个胳膊和头。研究组已经成功合成了最简单的这类化合物：suit[2]ane。

 

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具体操作步骤如下：

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They first used computer simulations to develop a plan of attack. The inner molecule, the "body," should be relatively stiff and oblong, Stoddart said. The suit must be a flexible molecule that can be assembled around the body from a few individual components.

 

"Like a well-tailored suit, all of the individual components must be perfectly coordinated with each other regarding their shape, size and functional groups," Stoddart said. The research is published this month in the German chemistry journal, Angewandte Chemie.

The chemists first produced a stiff, linear molecular framework. A slim center (a central aromatic ring) was hooked to two bulging "shoulders" (anthracene ring systems), each attached to an "arm." Next, the molecule was dressed in its suit. The suit was put on piece-by-piece and "sewed" together in a final step: in a self-organization process, two large ring-shaped molecules (crown ethers) slipped like sleeves onto the molecular "arms."

The torso, arms and sleeves were chemically outfitted to provide strong interactions to hold the sleeves tightly in place. In the next step, another smaller type of molecule (aromatic ring) was added. These molecules each contained two groups of atoms (amino groups) located across from each other, designed to each enter into attractive interactions with one spot on each sleeve. In the final step, chemical bonds were formed at these four points of contact; the aromatic rings thus linked the two sleeves into a single large molecule that completely enclosed the torso molecule without binding to it chemically.