Doughnut-shaped peptide nano-assemblies and their applications as nanoreactors

J Am Chem Soc. 2004 Jun 30;126(25):7935-9. doi: 10.1021/ja0319691.

Abstract

Doughnut-shaped nanoreactors, peptide nano-doughnuts, were self-assembled from peptides and organic Au salts. We demonstrated that monodisperse Au nanocrystals were synthesized inside the cavities of peptide nano-doughnuts by the reduction of Au ions and the size of the Au nanocrystal was controlled by the cavity dimension. The Au nanocrystals inside the nano-doughnuts were extracted by destroying the nano-doughnuts via long UV irradiation (>10 h). These features may allow the peptide nano-doughnuts to be applied in the fields of nanomaterial syntheses, controlled release systems, and drug delivery.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Crystallization
  • Gold / chemistry*
  • Microscopy, Electron, Scanning
  • Nanotechnology / methods*
  • Organometallic Compounds / chemistry*
  • Peptides / chemistry*
  • Protein Conformation
  • Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared
  • Ultraviolet Rays

Substances

  • Organometallic Compounds
  • Peptides
  • Gold