Multifunctional porous microspheres based on peptide-porphyrin hierarchical co-assembly.
Photocatalytically active, multi-chambered, biomolecule-based microspheres were prepared by hierarchical co-assembly of simple dipeptides and porphyrins. The colloidal microspheres are highly hydrated and consist of a network of J-aggregate nanoscale substructures that serve as light-harvesting antennae with a relatively broad spectral cross-section and considerable photostability. These optical properties can be exploited in photocatalytic reactions involving inorganic or organic species. Taken together, these structural and functional features suggest that soft porous biomolecule-based colloids are a plausible photosynthetic model that could be developed towards demonstrating aspects of primitive abiotic cellularity.
National Key Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100190 Beijing (China).
Qianli
Q
Zou
Lu
L
Zhang
Xuehai
X
Yan
Anhe
A
Wang
Guanghui
G
Ma
Junbai
J
Li
Helmuth
H
Möhwald
Stephen
S
Mann
D003102:Colloids / Q000737:chemistry*; D008027:Light; D008863:Microspheres; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry*; D010788:Photosynthesis; D016062:Porosity; D011166:Porphyrins / Q000737:chemistry*
D003102:Colloids; D010455:Peptides; D011166:Porphyrins
peptides; porous colloids; porphyrins; primitive photosynthetic model; self-assembly