Interaction of polyalanine alpha-helix with carbon nanotube.

The application of carbon nanotubes (CNT) in the area of biology such as Drug delivery vehicle and Biosensors calls for the basic understanding of the CNT's with biological macromolecules like proteins, DNA, Carbohydrates and lipids. CNT is known to be highly hydrophobic in nature. Our study reveals that the inherent hydrophobic nature of CNT is capable of disturbing the alpha-helical protein secondary structure. Thus our study provides mechanistic understanding of the loss in the alpha-helicity of the proteins in the presence of CNT. Our study reveals that the nanomaterials should be suitably modified for biological applications.