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Reconfigurable Chiral Self‐Assembly of Peptides through Control of Terminal Charges
Author(s) -
Xie Yanyan,
Wang Yuefei,
Qi Wei,
Huang Renliang,
Su Rongxin,
He Zhimin
Publication year - 2017
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.201700999
Subject(s) - self assembly , nanotechnology , chirality (physics) , nanomaterials , materials science , nanostructure , tripeptide , template , peptide , chemistry , physics , biochemistry , chiral symmetry breaking , quantum mechanics , nambu–jona lasinio model , quark
Self‐assembly of chiral nanostructures is of considerable interest, since the ability to control the chirality of these structures has direct ramifications in biology and materials science. A new approach to design chiral nanostructures from self‐assembly of N ‐(9‐fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl)‐protected phenylalanine‐tryptophan‐lysine tripeptides is reported. The terminal charges can induce helical twisting of the assembled β‐sheets, enabling the formation of well‐defined chiral nanostructures. The degree and direction of twisting in the β‐sheets can be precisely tailored through in situ pH and temperature modulations. This enables the assembly of reconfigurable chiral nanomaterials with easily adjustable size and handedness. These results offer new insight into the mechanism of helical twist formation, which may enable the precise assembly of highly dynamical materials with potential applications in biomedicine, chiroptics, and chiral sensing.