Two-Dimensional Polycyclodextrins for Strong Multivalent Host-Guest Interactions at Biointerfaces
Z. Goudarzi, Z. Mohammadi, R. Maleki, S. Beyranvand*, C. Nie, M. F. Gholami, Ö. Akkaya, M. Kalantari, M. Nemati, F. Yousufvand, F. Shahverdi, M. Rashidipour, Z. Ahmadian, I. Donskyi, P. Nickl, M. Brzeziński, K. Ludwig, J. P. Rabe, R. Arenal, C. Chong – 2025
While two-dimensional polymers with aromatic backbones have been increasingly receiving interest from various scientific disciplines, their nonaromatic counterparts are less investigated. In this work, two-dimensional poly(β-cyclodextrin)s (2D-CDs) with few hundred nanometers to millimeters lateral sizes and 0.7 nm thickness are synthesized using graphene and boron nitride as colloidal templates and used for multivalent host-guest interactions with biological systems. Deposition of cyclodextrins on graphene and boron nitride templates followed by lateral crosslinking and template detachment resulted in 2D-CDs with different physicochemical properties. The lateral size of the 2D-CDs was dominated by noncovalent interactions between cyclodextrins and templates. While an interaction energy of -224.3 kJ/mol at the interface between graphene and cyclodextrin led to few hundred nanometer 2D-CDs, boron nitride with weaker interactions (-179.4 kJ/mol) resulted in polymers with several micrometers to millimeters lateral sizes. The secondary hydroxyl groups of 2D-CDs were changed to sodium sulfate, and 2D polymers with the ability of simultaneous host-guest and electrostatic interactions with biosystems including vessel plaques and herpes simplex virus (HSV) were obtained. The sulfated 2D-CDs (2D-CDSs) showed a high ability for virus binding (IC50 = 6 μg/ml). Owing to their carbohydrate backbone, 2D-CDs are novel heparin mimetics that can be formulated for efficient inhibition of viral infections.