Nanostructured Micelle Nanotubes Self-assembled from Dinucleobase Monomers in Water.

Despite the central importance of aqueous amphiphile assemblies in science and industry, the size and shape of these nano-objects is often difficult to control with accuracy due to the non-directional nature of the hydrophobic interactions that sustain them. Here, using a bioinspired strategy that consists in programming an amphiphile with shielded directional Watson-Crick hydrogen-bonding functions, we managed to guide its self-assembly in water toward a novel family of chiral micelle nanotubes with partially filled lipophilic pores of about 2 nm in diameter. Moreover, we successfully demonstrate that these tailored nanotubes are able to extract and host molecules that are complementary in size and chemical affinity.