Viruses are often called ‘Trojan horses’, in refe
rence to Homer's Iliad. Laocoon, a Tro
jan priest, warned the Tro
jans not to take the horse into the city, as he prophesied soldiers were hidin
g inside; he and his two sons were subsequently attacked by sea-snakes. The Laocoon
group statue, capturin
g this dramatic moment, resembles a coacervate complex; the male fi
gures metaphorically representin
g the lanthanide complexes with the bis-DPA li
gands, whilst the snakes represent the polymer chains. The lanthanide complexes reveal the formation of the nanorods throu
gh their luminescence; so they allow one to ‘look inside the virus nanorod/tro
jan horse’, hence are coined: LAnthanide Oli
gopeptide COacervate Orchestrated Nanorods. More information can be found in the Communication by A. Hernandez-Garcia and J. Wan
g et al. on
g/10.1002/chem.201603968" rel="references:https://doi.org/10.1002/chem.201603968">page 239 ff.