Designing of optically active self-assembled nanostructures toward environmental remediation and catalysis

Abstract

Nature utilizes cellular and subcellular compartmentalization to efficiently drive many complex biochemical transformations via spatiotemporal regulations [1]. In this context, designing new multifunctional self-assembled nanostructures has found tremendous importance in recent times. Artificial protocell models are self-assembled nanostructures that mimic one or more functions of natural cells. Moreover, they tend to sequester a wide range of biologically active molecules in their architecture. Previously, extensive efforts have been made to design and formulate a diverse range of functional assemblies such as micelles, liposomes, polymersomes, plasmonic vesicles, dendrimers, hydrogels, metal-organic frameworks, polymeric nanoparticles, and coacervate droplets to mimic the properties and functions of cellular bodies [2]. In the present thesis, the unique properties of micelles and membraneless coacervates have been utilized to explore chemical reactivity inside these self-assembled nanocomposites.