title: Formation of polydopamine nanofibers with the aid of folic acid.
abstract: Polydopamine (PDA) generated by the oxidative self-polymerization of dopamine shows great potential for surface modification. Observed PDA nanostructures are nanoparticles and thin films. The formation mechanism of PDA is still unclear; thus, the manipulation of PDA nanostructures is a big challenge. In this study, we first demonstrated that folic acid shows a dramatic effect on the PDA nanostructure: New aggregated nanostructures of PDA, nanobelts and nanofibers, were generated in a dopamine/folic acid system. We hypothesized that folic acid may be involved in the stacking of protomolecules of PDA by π-π interactions and hydrogen bonding. Herein we describe the first experimental strategy to manipulate the aggregation of PDA by using small molecules. This study not only provides a new method for generating PDA nanofibers, which are proposed bioorganic electronic materials, but also a possible way to understand the formation mechanism of PDA and its analogues in nature, melanins.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872 (P. R. China).
authors.forename: Xiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Hailong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Le
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Zhaoxia
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Jin
mesh_terms: D005492:Folic Acid / Q000737:chemistry*; D006860:Hydrogen Bonding; D007211:Indoles / Q000737:chemistry*; D057139:Nanofibers / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D013499:Surface Properties
chemical_list: D007211:Indoles; D011108:Polymers; C568283:polydopamine; D005492:Folic Acid
keywords: dopamine; folic acid; melanin; nanostructures; π interactions