π-π Stacking Interaction: A Nondestructive and Facile Means in Material Engineering for Bioapplications

pi-pi stacking interactions, as a kind of attractive and nondestructive noncovalent interaction, have been widely explored for the applications in modern chemistry, molecular biology, and supramolecular armamentarium, among which their bioapplications have attracted tremendous attention due to the unique advantages such as strong binding force, nondestructive fabrication process, and simple operation. Impressively, great achievements have been made in the area of nucleobase stacking, biosensing, controlled drug release, protein folding, molecular recognition, self-assembly, template-directed synthesis. etc. In this review, we first discuss the characterization, geometric configurations, and requirements for pi-pi stacking interactions, and then focus on their typical bioapplications in material engineering in particular. At the end, the outlook for potential applications of pi-pi stacking interactions is also discussed.