The development of self-assembly strategies for well-studied biopolymers is an important route to complex and functional nanostructures. Here, we report the self-assembly of a stiff polysaccharide, formylated yeast β-glucan, into multiple highly ordered nanostructures from 1D to 3D. This polysaccharide could fold into a two-component helix that consisted of a rod-like helical core and flexible coronas. Annealing in formic acid can trigger the cross-linking of the coronas, resulting in the packing of helices into rod-like, sheet-like, or tube-like supramolecular nanostructures. The specific morphology of the resultant assemblies can be controlled by different annealing conditions such as annealing speed or polymer concentrations. Owing to the presence of reductant formyl groups, these β-glucan nanostructures can reduce silver ions in situ, leading to the guided assembly of ultrathin silver nanowires, silver–polymer nanorods, and silver–polymer necklaces.

中文翻译：

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核心-电晕β-葡聚糖自组装成从一维到三维的刚性和可金属化纳米结构

研究良好的生物聚合物自组装策略的发展是通往复杂和功能纳米结构的重要途径。在这里，我们报告了一种硬多糖，甲酰化酵母β-葡聚糖的自组装成从1D到3D的多个高度有序的纳米结构。该多糖可以折叠成由杆状螺旋形核和柔性电晕组成的两组分螺旋。甲酸中的退火会触发电晕的交联，导致螺旋堆积成棒状，片状或管状的超分子纳米结构。所得组件的具体形态可以通过不同的退火条件如退火速度或聚合物浓度来控制。由于存在还原剂甲酰基，这些β-葡聚糖纳米结构可以还原银离子原位制导超薄银纳米线，银聚合物纳米棒和银聚合物项链的组装。