Metallopolymer-Peptide Hybrid Materials: Synthesis and Self-Assembly of Functional, Polyferrocenylsilane-Tetrapeptide Conjugates

Siree Tangbunsuk, George R. Whittell, Maxim G. Ryadnov, Guido W. M. Vandermeulen, Derek N. Woolfson*, Ian Manners

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

22 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Conjugates of poly(ferrocenyldimethylsilane) (PFDMS) with Ac-(GA)2-OH, Ac-A4-OH, Ac-G4-OH and Ac-V4-OH have been prepared by reaction of the tetrapeptide units with the amino-terminated metallopolymer. The number average degree of polymerisation (DPn) of the PFDMS was approximately 20 and comparable materials with shorter (DPn10) and/or amorphous chains have been prepared by the same procedure. Poly(ferrocenylethylmethylsilane) (PFEMS) was employed for the latter purpose. All conjugates were characterised by GPC, MALDI-TOF MS, NMR and IR spectroscopy. With the exception of Ac-V4-PFDMS20, all materials exhibited some anti-parallel beta-sheet structure in the solid state. The self-assembly of the conjugates was studied in toluene by DLS. The vast majority of the materials, irrespective of peptide sequence or chain crystallinity, afforded fibres consisting of a peptidic core surrounded by a PFS corona. These fibres were found in the form of cross-linked networks by TEM and AFM. The accessibility of the chemically reducing PFS corona has been demonstrated by the localised formation of silver nanoparticles on the surface of the fibres.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2524-2535
Number of pages12
JournalChemistry - A European Journal
Volume18
Issue number9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Feb 2012

Keywords

  • nanoparticles
  • peptides
  • polymers
  • self-assembly
  • supramolecular chemistry
  • POLYPEPTIDE BLOCK-COPOLYMERS
  • COILED-COIL PEPTIDES
  • BETA-SHEET
  • POLY(ACRYLIC ACID)-BLOCK-POLY(L-VALINE)
  • DIBLOCK COPOLYMERS
  • TOPOCHEMICAL POLYMERIZATION
  • MICROSTRUCTURE FORMATION
  • POLYMERS
  • SILK
  • PROTEIN

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