title: Biomimetic assembly of polypeptide-stabilized CaCO(3) nanoparticles.
abstract: In this paper, we report a simple polypeptide-directed strategy for fabricating large spherical assembly of CaCO(3) nanoparticles. Stepwise growth and assembly of a large number of nanoparticles have been observed, from the formation of an amorphous liquidlike CaCO(3)-polypeptide precursor, to the crystallization and stabilization of polypeptide-capped nanoparticles, and eventually, the spherical assembly of nanoparticles. The "soft" poly(aspartate)-capping layer binding on a nanoparticle surface resulted in the unusual soft nature of nanoparticle assembly, providing a reservoir of primary nanoparticles with a moderate mobility, which is the basis of a new strategy for reconstructing nanoparticle assembly into complex nanoparticle architectures. Moreover, the findings of the secondary assembly of nanoparticle microspheres and the morphology transformation of nanoparticle assembly demonstrate a flexible and controllable pathway for manipulating the shapes and structures of nanoparticle assembly. In addition, the combination of the polypeptide with a double hydrophilic block copolymer (DHBC) allows it to possibly further control the shape and complexity of the nanoparticle assembly. A clear perspective is shown here that more complex nanoparticle materials could be created by using "soft" biological proteins or peptides as a mediating template at the organic-inorganic interface.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Intelligent Machines, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, Anhui 230031, P.R. China. zpzhang@iim.ac.cn
authors.forename: Zhongping
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Daming
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Chenggen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.forename: Guijian
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Guan
authors.forename: Dapeng
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Shu-Hong
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Yu
mesh_terms: D040761:Biomimetic Materials / Q000737:chemistry*; D002119:Calcium Carbonate / Q000737:chemistry*; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission / Q000379:methods; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D010316:Particle Size; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D010455:Peptides; C017645:polyaspartate; D002119:Calcium Carbonate