Role of Water in Directing Diphenylalanine Assembly into Nanotubes and Nanowires

Abstract

The controllable assembly behavior of diphenylalanine molecules to form nanowires (NWs) and nanotubes (NTs) and their structural details are presented (see figure). The nanoscale morphologies are closely related to molecular arrangements of diphenylalanine as revealed by Rietveld refinement of powder X‐ray diffraction patterns and electron‐density distributions in NTs and NWs via the maximum entropy method analysis.

Ostwald’s rule of stages governs structural transitions and morphology of dipeptide supramolecular polymers

“…Polymorphism in such polymers can be influenced by the careful choice of solution conditions 11,[31][32][33] . For instance, it has been shown that N-(t-butoxycarbonyl)-L-Phe-L-Phe-COOH (Boc-FF) can undergo self-assembly into structurally distinct states on the nanometer length scale as a result of variations in the solvent composition in which the process occurs.…”

Self–Assembled Peptide Nanostructures for Biomedical Applications: Advantages and Challenges

“…Nanotubes can therefore be used in much of the same applications as nanofibers and can furthermore be employed in implementations where the cavity inside the structures is loaded with drugs or for reducing metal ions to form nanowires of metal covered with a peptide shell for easy functionalization purposes (Reches & Gazit, 2003). Nanotubes can be obtained from a large variety of monomers such as cyclic peptides, as demonstrated in (Ghadiri et al, 1993) and (Tarek et al, 2003), linear peptide fragments such as phenylene ethynylene oligomers (Kim et al, 2010, Slotta et al, 2008 and disc-shaped motifs. Another structure that shares the tubular configuration is that of the rosette nanotubes formed from a heteroaromatic bicyclic base (Fenniri et al, 2002).…”

“…Example of Monomer Relevant references Nanotubes Hydrophobic dipeptides, cyclic peptide, linear peptides (Bong et al, 2001, Gorbitz, 2001, Nelson et al, 1997 Nanofibers Hydrophobic peptides, beta sheets (Kim et al, 2010, Scanlon & Aggeli, 2008, Wiltzius et al, 2009 Nanoparticles Boc -Diphenylalanine (Adler-Abramovich & Gazit, 2008, Bohr et al, 1997, Krebs et al, 2007, Nigen et al, 2010, Slotta et al, 2008 Nanotapes P 11 -II (Fairman & Akerfeldt, 2005, Fishwick et al, 2003 Gels K24 (Aggeli et al, 1997, Fairman & Akerfeldt, 2005 Table 1. Overview of several structures that can be formed through self-assembly.…”

Biosensors Based on Biological Nanostructures

“…However, the most acceptable explanation suggests that the π-π stacking interactions and hydrogen bonds between aromatic rings are responsible for the material nano-organization (Reches e Gazit, 2003). Another strategy to obtain these materials in liquid phase was proposed by Kim et al (Kim, Han et al, 2010). In this work, the authors used only pure water as solvent and submitted the system to heating and sonication to dissolve the peptide, since + NH 3 -Phe-Phe-COOpresent hydrophobic characteristics and do not dissolve easily in water.…”