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Self‐Assembly of Peptide‐Based Colloids Containing Lipophilic Nanocrystals
Author(s) -
Yan Xuehai,
Cui Yue,
Qi Wei,
Su Ying,
Yang Yang,
He Qiang,
Li Junbai
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
small
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.785
H-Index - 236
eISSN - 1613-6829
pISSN - 1613-6810
DOI - 10.1002/smll.200800960
Subject(s) - cationic polymerization , colloid , dipeptide , protonation , nanocrystal , nanotechnology , self assembly , peptide , chemistry , block (permutation group theory) , spheres , materials science , chemical engineering , organic chemistry , physics , biochemistry , ion , geometry , mathematics , astronomy , engineering
Biocompatible 3D colloids , composed of a cationic dipeptide building block and functional lipophilic nanocrystals, are fabricated by using a simple and facile method. It is deduced that the electrostatic interactions upon protonation of the cationic dipeptide and hydrophobic attraction are the predominant driving forces for the assembly process. Such assembled colloidal spheres can be well‐dispersed in biological media and have no clear cytotoxicity, thus can be used as live cell labels (see figure).