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Carbon Nanotubes Encapsulated in Coiled‐Coil Peptide Barrels
Author(s) -
Mann Florian A.,
Horlebein Jan,
Meyer Nils Frederik,
Meyer Daniel,
Thomas Franziska,
Kruss Sebastian
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
chemistry – a european journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.687
H-Index - 242
eISSN - 1521-3765
pISSN - 0947-6539
DOI - 10.1002/chem.201800993
Subject(s) - nanomaterials , carbon nanotube , nanotechnology , surface modification , materials science , fluorescence , coiled coil , covalent bond , absorption (acoustics) , peptide , random coil , nanoparticle , chemical engineering , chemistry , circular dichroism , organic chemistry , crystallography , biochemistry , physics , engineering , composite material , quantum mechanics
Specific functionalization of 1D nanomaterials such as near infrared (nIR) fluorescent single‐walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) is essential for colloidal stability and tailoring of their interactions with the environment. Here, we show that de novo designed alpha‐helical coiled‐coil peptide barrels (αHBs) with appropriate pores encapsulate and solubilize SWCNTs. In contrast, barrels without or with narrow pores showed a much smaller efficiency. Absorption/fluorescence spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy indicate that the SWCNTs are incorporated into the αHB′s pore. The resulting hybrid SWCNT@αHBs display periodic surface coverage with a 40 nm pitch and remain fluorescent in the nIR. This approach presents a novel concept to encapsulate, discriminate and functionalize SWCNTs non‐covalently with peptides and holds great promise for future applications in bioimaging or drug delivery.