Abstract:
The ability of nucleobases, nucleosides, nucleotides and their derivatives to support supramolecular interactions has enabled the construction of a variety of architectures. In particular, nucleolipid hybrids have gained significant interest as they serve as excellent scaffolds for the bottom-up generation of hierarchical assemblies with wide biomedical and material applications. In this chapter, we provided a detailed discussion on the recent advances in the design and applications of nucleolipid assemblies. First, we discuss various design approaches in synthesizing nucleolipid supramolecular synthons and the various self-assembled architectures they form. In the second part, recent applications of nucleolipid assemblies are reviewed in detail. Emphasis is laid on assemblies that can be used as delivery tools, injectable gels, tissue engineering scaffolds, sensors and environment remedial systems. Easy synthesis, ability to tune the assembling process and useful applications of the nucleolipid architectures discussed in this chapter underscore the high potential of nucleolipid assemblies in the real-life applications.