Protein-responsive assemblies from catechol–metal ion supramolecular coordination

Supramolecular self-assembly driven by catechol-metal ion coordination has gained great success in the fabrication of functional materials including adhesives, capsules, coatings and hydrogels. However, this route has encountered a great challenge in the construction of nanoarchitectures in the absence of removable templates, because of the uncontrollable crosslinking of catechol-metal ion coordination. Herein, we show that a supramolecular approach, combining both catechol-metal ion coordination and polymer self-assembly together, can organize polymers into hybrid nanoassemblies ranging from solid particles, homogeneous vesicles to Janus vesicles. Without the introduction of a specific binding ligand or complicated molecular design, these assemblies can totally disassemble in response to proteins. UV/vis absorption, fluorescence quenching and recovery investigations have confirmed that proteins can seize metal ions from the hybrid nanoassemblies, thus causing the degradation of catechol-metal ion coordination networks.