Department of Materials, Department of Bioengineering, Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Imperial College London, London, SW7 2AZ, UK.
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2017 Feb 20;56(9):2361-2365. doi: 10.1002/anie.201610976. Epub 2017 Jan 19.
Supramolecular self-assembly is an important process that enables the conception of complex structures mimicking biological motifs. Herein, we constructed helical fibrils through chiral self-assembly of nucleobase-peptide conjugates (NPCs), where achiral nucleobases are helically displayed on the surface of fibrils, comparable to polymerized nucleic acids. Selective binding between DNA and the NPC fibrils was observed with fluorescence polarization. Taking advantage of metal-nucleobase recognition, we highlight the possibility of deposition/assembly of plasmonic nanoparticles onto the fibrillar constructs. In this approach, the supramolecular chirality of NPCs can be adaptively imparted to metallic nanoparticles, covering them to generate structures with plasmonic chirality that exhibit significantly improved colloidal stability. The self-assembly of rationally designed NPCs into nanohelices is a promising way to engineer complex, optically diverse nucleobase-derived nanomaterials.
超分子自组装是一种重要的过程，它使我们能够构建模仿生物基序的复杂结构。在此，我们通过碱基-肽缀合物（NPCs）的手性自组装构建了螺旋纤维，其中非手性碱基在纤维表面呈螺旋状排列，类似于聚合核酸。通过荧光偏振观察到 DNA 与 NPC 纤维之间的选择性结合。利用金属-碱基识别，我们强调了将等离子体纳米颗粒沉积/组装到纤维状结构上的可能性。在这种方法中，NPC 的超分子手性可以自适应地赋予金属纳米颗粒，覆盖它们以生成具有等离子体手性的结构，其表现出显著提高的胶体稳定性。通过合理设计的 NPC 自组装成纳米螺旋是一种很有前途的方法，可以构建复杂的、光学多样化的碱基衍生纳米材料。
