Hierarchical porous
carbons (HPCs) hold great promise in energy-related applications owing
to their excellent chemical stability and well-developed porous structures.
Attention has been drawn toward developing new synthetic strategies
and precursor materials that permit greater control over composition,
size, morphology, and pore structure. There is a growing trend of
employing metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) as HPC precursors
as their highly customizable characteristics favor new HPC syntheses.
In this article, we report a biomimetically grown bacterial-templated
MOF synthesis where the bacteria not only facilitate the formation
of MOF nanocrystals but also provide morphology and porosity control.
The resultant HPCs show improved electrochemical capacity behavior
compared to pristine MOF-derived HPCs. Considering the broad availability
of bacteria and ease of their production, in addition to significantly
improved MOF growth efficiency on bacterial templates, we believe
that the bacterial-templated MOF is a promising strategy to produce
a new generation of HPCs.
In this Article, we show that the surface of the bacteriophage Qβ is equipped with natural ligands for the synthesis of small gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). By exploiting disulfides in the protein secondary structure and the geometry formed from the capsid quaternary structure, we find that we can produce regularly arrayed patterns of ∼6 nm AuNPs across the surface of the virus-like particle. Experimental and computational analyses provide insight into the formation and stability of this composite. We further show that the entrapped genetic material can hold upward of 500 molecules of the anticancer drug Doxorubicin without leaking and without interfering with the synthesis of the AuNPs. This direct nucleation of nanoparticles on the capsid allows for exceptional conduction of photothermal energy upon nanosecond laser irradiation. As a proof of principle, we demonstrate that this energy is capable of rapidly releasing the drug from the capsid without heating the bulk solution, allowing for highly targeted cell killing in vitro.
Controlling the uptake of nanomaterials into phagocytes is a challenging problem. We describe an approach to inhibit the cellular uptake by macrophages and HeLa cells of nanoparticles derived from bacteriophage Qβ by conjugating negatively charged terminal hexanoic acid moieties onto its surface. Additionally, we show hydrazone linkers can be installed between the surface of Qβ and the terminal hexanoic acid moieties, resulting in a pH-responsive conjugate that, in acidic conditions, can release the terminal hexanoic acid moiety and allow for the uptake of the Qβ nanoparticle. The installation of the "pH switch" did not change the structure-function properties of the hexanoic acid moiety and the uptake of the Qβ conjugates by macrophages.
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