Biologically templated organic polymers with nanoscale order

Academic Article

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Overview

authors

• Willis, B.
• Eubanks, L. M.
• Wood, Malcolm R.
• Janda, Kim
• Dickerson, Tobin
• Lerner, Richard

publication date

• February 2008

journal

• Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America  Journal

abstract

• Methods for the construction of ordered nanoscale arrays have been implicated in fields ranging from separation technologies to microelectronics. Yet, despite the plethora of nanoscale structures assembled in nature that use a templating strategy, chemists have been unable to replicate this success. A technology is reported for templated organic polymers composed of filamentous bacteriophage-polyacrylamide biomacromolecules that self-assemble into highly ordered helical bundles displaying hexagonal close packing. The results align with a previously reported mathematical prediction for the close packing of flexible tubes. This biopolymeric assembly can be viewed as a magnification of the inherent microscopic chirality and helicity present in individual phage particles at the macroscale level.

subject areas

• Acrylic Resins
• Bacteriophage M13
• Microscopy, Electron, Transmission
• Nanostructures
• Nanotechnology
• Polymers

Research

keywords

• bacteriophage
• nanopores
• polyacrylamide

Identity

PubMed Central ID

• PMC2234158

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

• 0027-8424

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

• 10.1073/pnas.0711308105

PubMed ID

• 18216240

Additional Document Info

start page

• 1416

end page

• 1419

volume

• 105

issue

• 5