Engineering crystalline materials by molecular design (1–4) has led to numerous technological and scientific advancements in medicine, catalysis, optics, and electronics. Colloidal crystals (5) are often considered to be the structural analogs of molecular crystals, wherein microscopic particles rather than molecules are arranged into highly ordered architectures. Despite substantial progress, engineering colloidal crystals with precise structures and properties remains a challenging task, especially when compared to the level of control achieved in molecular crystals. On page 781 and 776 of this issue, Posnjak et al. (6) and Liu et al. (7), respectively, report the design of DNA molecules that are engineered to self-assemble across multiple length scales into colloidal crystals with unprecedented control and programmability. This advance opens up tremendous engineering opportunities for creating new crystalline materials in optics, sensing, and separation applications.

中文翻译：

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逐分子工程胶体晶体


通过分子设计工程晶体材料 (1-4) 带来了医学、催化、光学和电子学领域的众多技术和科学进步。胶体晶体 (5) 通常被认为是分子晶体的结构类似物，其中微观颗粒而不是分子排列成高度有序的结构。尽管取得了重大进展，但设计具有精确结构和性能的胶体晶体仍然是一项具有挑战性的任务，特别是与分子晶体中实现的控制水平相比。在本期第 781 和 776 页，Posnjak 等人。 (6) 和刘等人。 (7) 分别报道了 DNA 分子的设计，这些 DNA 分子被设计为在多个长度尺度上自组装成胶体晶体，具有前所未有的控制和可编程性。这一进步为在光学、传感和分离应用中创造新的晶体材料开辟了巨大的工程机会。