ORGN 651 |
| Several short peptides have been prepared that are able to self-assemble into alpha-helical nanofibers in a pH controlled fashion. The fibers formed have a nanostructure that is consistent with a parallel array of coiled-coils similar to intermediate filaments such as laminin and keratin. The simple design philosophy behind these peptides and their ease of synthesis make them particularly well suited for use as nanostructured scaffolds for many nano- and biomaterials applications. The nanofiber secondary structure was characterized by FT-IR as dried films and by circular dichroism as solutions and gels (below left) and found to be alpha-helical when the ionizable side chains were neutralized. At low concentrations the peptides were found to form discrete, soluble coiled-coils as observed by analytical ultracentrifugation while at higher concentration the peptides formed gels of nanofibers as observed by transmission electron microscopy (below, right). Their stability, assembly and nanostructural organization will be discussed.
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Proteins, Peptides, and Nucleotides
8:00 AM-11:00 AM, Wednesday, 16 March 2005 Convention Center -- Room 9, Oral
Division of Organic Chemistry |
