Figure 1.

Hierarchical self-assembly of (left) biopolymers and (right) supramolecular polymers. Both biopolymer folding and supramolecular polymer assembly start with a molecular design, coding for organization on several hierarchical levels. Second, the structures order based on local interactions with monomers, neighboring amino acids in the case of biopolymers or adjacent building blocks for supramolecular polymers. On a third level, the monomers act to form a three-dimensional structure such as a fibrillar protein or a supramolecular polymer. Finally, the fibrillar proteins can be organized with other proteins into a functional system. Similarly, self-assembled structures can be assembled hierarchically to form a superstructure.

Reproduced with permission from Reference 33 © 2008 Elsevier and 34 © 2007 Elsevier (left) and 87 © 2010 Nature Publishing Group (right).