Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Multivalent binding employs multiple simultaneous supramolecular interactions, increasing avidity and selectivity compared with monovalent binding. While equilibrium aspects of multivalency are well characterized, nonequilibrium behavior remains poorly understood. By combining experiments on hyaluronic acid polymers with kinetic modeling based on stochastic chemical kinetics and molecular dynamics simulations, we systematically investigate the kinetics of multivalent binding. Notably, we find that both association and dissociation kinetics can be more selective than equilibrium binding. We explain this behavior using a two-step binding model featuring a combination of fast, weak and slow, strong interactions. These findings demonstrate a new approach: superselective targeting based on the association rate instead of the equilibrium state. The kinetic theory and experiments presented here provide a fundamental understanding of multivalent kinetics and establish design rules for superselective targeting in out-of-equilibrium systems.
Language: English
Subfield: Organic Chemistry
Field: Chemistry
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: Chemical Carcinogenesis and Neurodegeneration: Molecular-Level Mechanistic Impact of Microwave Irradiation, Optical Chemical/Bio Sensor Systems (OPTISENS), Computationally intensive complex systems, Dual Series Gate Configuration, Materials Design, and Mechanistic Modeling for Drift-Stabilized, Highly Sensitive Organic Electrochemical Transistor Biosensors, G4656594441, Hybrid supramolecular/plasmonic switches as luminescence sensors and watermarkers, MRI: Acquisition of an Advanced Computing Instrument to Integrate Data-Driven Research and Data intensive computing at Johns Hopkins University, G7535567983, Development of Electrochemical Biosensor for Detection of Methylmercury
OpenAlex ID: W7161702419