Darkness unlocks more ordered nanotubes in light-responsive molecular assemblies, study suggests
Life on Earth has evolved under an uninterrupted rhythm of day and night.
Life on Earth has evolved under an uninterrupted rhythm of day and night. While light provides the energy that powers countless molecular processes, periods of darkness often allow biological systems to reorganize, recover and transform that energy into functional outcomes.
The short version
- Inspired by this natural balance, an international team led by Javier Montenegro at the Center for Research in Biological Chemistry and Molecular Materials (CiQUS) of the Universidade de Santiago de Compostela has demonstrated that the same principle can govern the behavior of simple synthetic molecular systems.
- Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: fact-checked peer-reviewed publication trusted source proofread The GIST Add as preferred source Credit: CiQUS-USC Life on Earth has evolved under an uninterrupted rhythm of day and night.
- The study shows that alternating light and dark phases do more than merely switch molecular activity on and off.
- Instead, darkness acts as a crucial stage in which molecular assemblies reorganize and evolve toward more stable and sophisticated structures.
What the source reports
Alejandro Méndez-Ardoy from the Institute of Chemical Research (IIQ, CSIC–University of Seville), with contributions from Patricia Fulías Guzmán and Adrián Sánchez Fernández at CiQUS, as well as collaborators from the Stratingh Institute for Chemistry at the University of Groningen. The work is published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition . The team investigated small photoresponsive peptides capable of changing their chemical state when exposed to light.
Why it matters
These molecules contain a photoswitch that toggles between two forms with distinct properties: one that is more water-soluble in the dark and another that becomes more hydrophobic under illumination.
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