Self-Assembled Multivalency: Dynamic Ligand Arrays for High-Affinity Binding

Multivalency is a powerful strategy for achieving high-affinity molecular recognition in biological systems. Recently, attention has begun to focus on using self-assembly rather than covalent scaffold synthesis to organize multiple ligands. This approach has a number of advantages, including ease of synthesis/assembly, tunability of nanostructure morphology and ligands, potential to incorporate multiple active units, and the responsive nature of self-assembly. We suggest that self-assembled multivalency is a strategy of fundamental importance in the design of synthetic nanosystems to intervene in biological pathways and has potential applications in nanomedicine. Copyright © 2012 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.