title: Doping of carbon nanotubes with nitrogen improves protein coverage whilst retaining correct conformation.
abstract: Relevant parameters for non-covalent protein functionalization of carbon nanotubes are explored. Multiwalled carbon nanotubes are carboxylated and functionalized with metalloproteins. Using atomic force microscopy (AFM) we quantitatively determine that coverage with nitrogen-doped multiwalled carbon nanotubes is superior compared to coverage with un-doped multiwalled carbon nanotubes, due to enhanced carboxylation. Conformational analysis using a combination of AFM, antibody binding assays, circular dichroism and UV-visible spectroscopy demonstrates that the metalloproteins retain their native structure when adsorbed to nitrogen-doped multiwalled carbon nanotubes irrespective of their size, charge or folding motif.
authors.affiliation: Bionanotechnology IRC, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Clarendon Laboratory, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PU, UK.
authors.forename: Hilary J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Burch
authors.forename: Sonia Antoranz
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Contera
authors.forename: Maurits R R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: de Planque
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Grobert
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Ryan