Fabrication of Highly Ordered Polymeric Nanodot and Nanowire Arrays Templated by Supramolecular Assembly Block Copolymer Nanoporous Thin Films

Realizing the vast technological potential of patternable block copolymers requires both the precise controlling of the orientation and long-range ordering, which is still a challenging topic so far. Recently, we have demonstrated that ordered nanoporous thin film can be fabricated from a simple supramolecular assembly approach. Here we will extend this approach and provide a general route to fabricate large areas of highly ordered polymeric nanodot and nanowire arrays. We revealed that under a mixture solvent annealing atmosphere, a near-defect-free nanoporous thin film over large areas can be achieved. Under the direction of interpolymer hydrogen bonding and capillary action of nanopores, this ordered porous nanotemplate can be properly filled with phenolic resin precursor, followed by curation and pyrolysis at middle temperature to remove the nanotemplate, a perfect ordered polymer nanodot arrays replication was obtained. The orientation of the supramolecular assembly thin films can be readily re-aligned parallel to the substrate upon exposure to chloroform vapor, so this facile nanotemplate replica method can be further extend to generate large areas of polymeric nanowire arrays. Thus, we achieved a successful sub-30 nm patterns nanotemplates transfer methodology for fabricating polymeric nanopattern arrays with highly ordered structure and tunable morphologies

A physical map of Brassica oleracea shows complexity of chromosomal changes following recursive paleopolyploidizations

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Evolution of the Brassica species has been recursively affected by polyploidy events, and comparison to their relative, <it>Arabidopsis thaliana</it>, provides means to explore their genomic complexity.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A genome-wide physical map of a rapid-cycling strain of <it>B. oleracea </it>was constructed by integrating high-information-content fingerprinting (HICF) of Bacterial Artificial Chromosome (BAC) clones with hybridization to sequence-tagged probes. Using 2907 contigs of two or more BACs, we performed several lines of comparative genomic analysis. Interspecific DNA synteny is much better preserved in euchromatin than heterochromatin, showing the qualitative difference in evolution of these respective genomic domains. About 67% of contigs can be aligned to the Arabidopsis genome, with 96.5% corresponding to euchromatic regions, and 3.5% (shown to contain repetitive sequences) to pericentromeric regions. Overgo probe hybridization data showed that contigs aligned to Arabidopsis euchromatin contain ~80% of low-copy-number genes, while genes with high copy number are much more frequently associated with pericentromeric regions. We identified 39 interchromosomal breakpoints during the diversification of <it>B. oleracea </it>and <it>Arabidopsis thaliana</it>, a relatively high level of genomic change since their divergence. Comparison of the <it>B. oleracea </it>physical map with Arabidopsis and other available eudicot genomes showed appreciable 'shadowing' produced by more ancient polyploidies, resulting in a web of relatedness among contigs which increased genomic complexity.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>A high-resolution genetically-anchored physical map sheds light on Brassica genome organization and advances positional cloning of specific genes, and may help to validate genome sequence assembly and alignment to chromosomes.</p> <p>All the physical mapping data is freely shared at a WebFPC site (<url>http://lulu.pgml.uga.edu/fpc/WebAGCoL/brassica/WebFPC/</url>; Temporarily password-protected: account: pgml; password: 123qwe123.</p

A simple approach to characterizing block copolymer assemblies:graphene oxide supports for high contrast multi-technique imaging

\u3cp\u3eBlock copolymers are well-known to self-assemble into a range of 3-dimensional morphologies. However, due to their nanoscale dimensions, resolving their exact structure can be a challenge. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is a powerful technique for achieving this, but for polymeric assemblies chemical fixing/staining techniques are usually required to increase image contrast and protect specimens from electron beam damage. Graphene oxide (GO) is a robust, water-dispersable, and nearly electron transparent membrane: an ideal support for TEM. We show that when using GO supports no stains are required to acquire high contrast TEM images and that the specimens remain stable under the electron beam for long periods, allowing sample analysis by a range of electron microscopy techniques. GO supports are also used for further characterization of assemblies by atomic force microscopy. The simplicity of sample preparation and analysis, as well as the potential for significantly increased contrast background, make GO supports an attractive alternative for the analysis of block copolymer assemblies.\u3c/p\u3