Hou Yong, Zou Linjun, Li Qinglong, Chen Meiying, Ruan Haonan, Sun Zhaocui, Xu Xudong, Yang Junshan, Ma Guoxu
Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substances and Resource Utilization of Chinese Herbal Medicine, Ministry of Education; Key Laboratory of New Drug Discovery Based on Classic Chinese Medicine Prescription, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences; Institute of Medicinal Plant Development, Peking Union Medical College and Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, 100193, China.
Mater Today Bio. 2022 Jun 15;15:100327. doi: 10.1016/j.mtbio.2022.100327. eCollection 2022 Jun.
Natural products have been used to prevent and treat human diseases for thousands of years, especially the extensive natural small molecules (NSMs) such as terpenoids, steroids and glycosides. A quantity of studies are confined to concern about their chemical structures and pharmacological activities at the monomolecular level, whereas the spontaneous assemblies of them in liquids yielding supramolecular structures have not been clearly understood deeply. Compared to the macromolecules or synthetic small molecular compounds, NSMs have the inherent advantages of lower toxicity, better biocompatibility, biodegradability and biological activity. Self-assembly of single component and multicomponent co-assembly are unique techniques for designing supramolecular entities. Assemblies are of special significance due to their range of applications in the areas of drug delivery systems, pollutants capture, materials synthesis, . The assembled mechanism of supramolecular NSMs which are mainly driven by multiple non-covalent interactions are summarized. Furthermore, a new hypothesis aimed to interpret the integration effects of multi-components of traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) inspired on the theory of supramolecular assembly is proposed. Generally, this review can enlighten us to achieve the qualitative leap for understanding natural products from monomolecule to supramolecular structures and multi-component interactions, which is valuable for the intensive research and application.
数千年来,天然产物一直被用于预防和治疗人类疾病,尤其是萜类、甾体和糖苷等广泛存在的天然小分子(NSMs)。大量研究局限于关注它们在单分子水平上的化学结构和药理活性,而它们在液体中自发组装形成超分子结构的情况尚未得到深入清晰的理解。与大分子或合成小分子化合物相比,天然小分子具有毒性更低、生物相容性更好、可生物降解性以及生物活性等固有优势。单一组分的自组装和多组分共组装是设计超分子实体的独特技术。组装体因其在药物递送系统、污染物捕获、材料合成等领域的广泛应用而具有特殊意义。总结了主要由多种非共价相互作用驱动的超分子天然小分子的组装机制。此外,提出了一个新的假说,旨在基于超分子组装理论解释中药多组分的整合效应。总体而言,这篇综述能够启发我们实现从单分子到超分子结构以及多组分相互作用来理解天然产物的质的飞跃,这对于深入研究和应用具有重要价值。