Synthesis of Silica Nanofibers Templated by Self-Assembled Peptide Nanostructures

Abstract

There is increasing interest in the synthesis of well-organized silica nanostructures using designed peptides as templates. We have demonstrated an approach to synthesize silica nanofibers by sol-gel condensation of tetramethoxysilane as a silica source on the surface of self-assembled peptide nanofibers. Nonapeptide can undergo self-assembly to form peptide nanofibers and was used as templates for silicification under ambient conditions. Peptide nanofibers were stably entrapped within the silica precipitates through templating. The silica morphology and dimensions remained largely intact even after removal of the template by calcination. These findings clearly indicate that the peptide nanoarchitecture allows us to increase diversity in peptide-templated inorganic material synthesis and mimics the natural biomineralization process by means of facile, chemically synthesizable, and controllable self-assembling peptides. This would be an effective approach to produce bulk amounts of inorganic nanostructures for various applications.

Biomimetic Alignment of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles along a Peptide Nanofiber

“…We previously designed and synthesized a series of amphiphilic β-sheet-forming nonapeptides and showed that they self-assemble to form nanofibers at relatively low peptide concentrations of ∼100 μM in water. The use of water avoids potential metal/salt contamination by buffer solutions. − Our results demonstrated that short peptides hold potential for practical applications and encouraged us to employ them as templates to align ZnO nanocrystals along self-assembled peptide nanostructures. Peptides provide significant advantages in structural diversity and manipulation of template molecules compared to small (e.g., amino acids) and large (e.g., proteins) biomolecules.…”

Ultrathin Gold Nanoribbons Synthesized within the Interior Cavity of a Self-Assembled Peptide Nanoarchitecture

“…We also demonstrated the synthesis of silica nanofibers by using a self-assembled nonapeptide nanofiber as a template (RU019: Ac-KIE­ATX­KIE-NH 2 , X = l -2-naphthylalanine) via hydrolysis/condensation of tetramethoxysilane as a silica source at ambient conditions followed by calcination of the peptide–silica hybrids …”

Site-specific control of silica mineralization on DNA using a designed peptide

“…(1) Small peptides derived from the sequences of isolated proteins for biomineralization or artificial sequences that form nanotubes can be used to precipitate inorganic compounds. [14][15][16][17] In addition, compared with proteins, these peptides are easier to handle;…”