Emulsion-oriented assembly for Janus double-spherical mesoporous nanoparticles as biological logic gates

• Published in: Nature chemistry 2023-06, Vol.15 (6), p.832-840
• Main Authors: Zhao, Tiancong, Chen, Liang, Liu, Minchao, Lin, Runfeng, Cai, Weiluo, Hung, Chin-Te, Wang, Shangfeng, Duan, Linlin, Zhang, Fan, Elzatahry, Ahmed, Li, Xiaomin, Zhao, Dongyuan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 639/925/350/354; 639/925/357/354; 639/925/357/404; 639/925/357/551; Analytical Chemistry; Assembly; Biochemistry; Biomolecules; Chemical properties; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Chemistry/Food Science; Compartments; Diazonium Compounds; Emulsions; Fabrication; Inorganic Chemistry; Logic circuits; Nanoparticles; Nanoparticles - chemistry; Organic Chemistry; Physical Chemistry; Porosity; Pyridines; Silica; Silicon Dioxide - chemistry
• ISSN: 1755-4330; 1755-4349; 1755-4349
• DOI: 10.1038/s41557-023-01183-4

The ability of Janus nanoparticles to establish biological logic systems has been widely exploited, yet conventional non/uni-porous Janus nanoparticles are unable to fully mimic biological communications. Here we demonstrate an emulsion-oriented assembly approach for the fabrication of highly uniform Janus double-spherical MSN&mPDA (MSN, mesoporous silica nanoparticle; mPDA, mesoporous polydopamine) nanoparticles. The delicate Janus nanoparticle possesses a spherical MSN with a diameter of ~150 nm and an mPDA hemisphere with a diameter of ~120 nm. In addition, the mesopore size in the MSN compartment is tunable from ~3 to ~25 nm, while those in the mPDA compartments range from ~5 to ~50 nm. Due to the different chemical properties and mesopore sizes in the two compartments, we achieve selective loading of guests in different compartments, and successfully establish single-particle-level biological logic gates. The dual-mesoporous structure enables consecutive valve-opening and matter-releasing reactions within one single nanoparticle, facilitating the design of single-particle-level logic systems. Large biomolecules cannot be loaded into conventional Janus nanoparticles with small mesopores, preventing the establishment of efficient logic-gate systems in single Janus nanoparticles. Now, an emulsion-oriented assembly approach has been shown to fabricate Janus double-spherical nanoparticles with dual-tunable mesopores, enabling the design of various single-particle-level logic systems.