Research
Nanoreceptors
Nanoparticles coated with a shell of organic ligands are promising tool for realizing artificial receptors. The coating shell is a partially flexible array of several radially ordered organic molecules. Functional groups inserted in the ligands can hence cluster, pre-organize and adapt to selectively bind target molecules.
Chemosensing
Signalling the presence of selected chemical species is one of the most classical applications of supramolecular chemistry. In our approach, nanoparticles act as self-assembled platforms capable to exploit the collaboration between functional groups to produce NMR or optical signals.
Artificial nucleases & catalysis
Hydrolytic cleavage of phosphate esters is extremely slow, with lifetimes that can reach thousand of years. Still, enzymes can cleave this molecules in milliseconds. We try to reproduce this astonishing reactivity by exploiting the collaboration between metals and organic groups. We are also exploring the application of the same principles to other reactions.
Nano-bio interactions
Nanoparticles could dramatically benefits both therapy and diagnosis. Still, we know very little of what happen when they enter a living organism. Self-organization allows to design multifunctional nanoparticles capable of complex functions and to provide model systems for fundamental biological studies.