Two-Dimensional Polycyclodextrins for Strong Multivalent Host-Guest Interactions at Biointerfaces

While 2D polymers with aromatic backbones have been increasingly receiving interest from various scientific disciplines, their nonaromatic counterparts are less investigated. In this work, 2D poly(β-cyclodextrin)s (2D-CDs) with few hundred nanometers to millimeters lateral sizes and 0.7 nm thickness are synthesized using graphene and boron nitride as colloidal templates and used for multivalent host-guest interactions with biological systems. Deposition of cyclodextrins on graphene and boron nitride templates followed by lateral crosslinking and template detachment resulted in 2D-CDs with different physicochemical properties. The size of the 2D-CDs is dominated by noncovalent interactions between cyclodextrins and templates. While an interaction energy of −224.3 kJ mol⁻¹ at the interface between graphene and cyclodextrin led to few hundred nanometer 2D-CDs, boron nitride with weaker interactions (−179.4 kJ mol⁻¹) resulted in polymers with millimeters lateral sizes. The secondary hydroxyl groups of 2D-CDs are changed to sodium sulfate, and 2D polymers with the ability of simultaneous host-guest and electrostatic interactions with biosystems including vessel plaques and herpes simplex virus (HSV) are obtained. The sulfated 2D-CDs (2D-CDSs) show a high ability for virus binding (IC50 = 6 µg mL⁻¹). Owing to their carbohydrate backbone, 2D-CDs are novel heparin mimetics that can be formulated for efficient inhibition of viral infections.