Confining a Protein-Containing Water Nanodroplet inside Silica Nanochannels

Abstract

Incorporation of biological systems in water nanodroplets has recently emerged as a new frontier to investigate structural changes of biomolecules, with perspective applications in ultra-fast drug delivery. We report on the molecular dynamics of the digestive protein Pepsin subjected to a double confinement. The double confinement stemmed from embedding the protein inside a water nanodroplet, which in turn was caged in a nanochannel mimicking the mesoporous silica SBA-15. The nano-bio-droplet, whose size fits with the pore diameter, behaved differently depending on the protonation state of the pore surface silanols. Neutral channel sections allowed for the droplet to flow, while deprotonated sections acted as anchoring piers for the droplet. Inside the droplet, the protein, not directly bonded to the surface, showed a behavior similar to that reported for bulk water solutions, indicating that double confinement should not alter its catalytic activity. Our results suggest that nanobiodroplets, recently fabricated in volatile environments, can be encapsulated and stored in mesoporous silicas.

"Paris car parking problem" for partially ordered discorectangles on a line

“…The properties of such composites significantly depend on orientations and arrangements of particles in 1D channels [11]. The incorporation of bioorganic systems (protein-containing water nanodroplets) in a porous inside 1D silica nanochannels was studied [14]. The 1D confined supramolecular architectures of chromophores can be used for solar energy harvesting and storage [15].…”

Steering polymer growth by molding nanochannels: 1,5-hexadiene polymerization in high silica mordenite

“…[4,[16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] The geometrical constraints of the zeolitic framework can be proficiently exploited to induce the formation of nanostructured arrays with the desired dimensionality. Supramolecular materials which do not require chemical reactions to form compositessuch as dye-zeolite composites/artificial antenna systems in zeolite channels, [25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33] biomolecules and chromophores immobilized in 1-D channels, [34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41] or low-dimensional nanoarchitectures of molecular clusters [42][43][44] -have been successfully realized. The preparation of a continuous organic nanowire via a chemical reaction, i.e.…”