Probing the Protein-Nanoparticle Interface: The Role of Aromatic Substitution Pattern on Affinity.
A new class of cationic gold nanoparticles has been synthesized bearing benzyl moieties featuring -NO2and -OMe groups to investigate the regioisomeric control of aromatic nanoparticle-protein recognition. In general, nanoparticles bearing electron withdrawing group demonstrated higher binding affinities towards green fluorescent protein (GFP) compared to electron-donating groups. Significantly, a ~7.5 and ~4.3 fold increase in binding with GFP was observed for -NO2 groups inmeta-andpara-position respectively, whileortho-substitution showed similar binding compared to the unsubstituted ring. These findings demonstrated that nanoparticle-protein interaction can be controlled by the tuning the spatial orientation and the relative electronic properties of the aromatic substituents. This improved biomolecular recognition provides opportunities for enhanced biosensing and functional protein delivery to the cells.
Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 710 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01003, USA; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Suleyman Demirel University, 32260, Cunur, Isparta, Turkey.
Zeynep
Z
Ekmekci
Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 710 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01003, USA.
Krishnendu
K
Saha
Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 710 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01003, USA.
Daniel F
DF
Moyano
Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 710 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01003, USA.
Gulen Yesilbag
GY
Tonga
Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 710 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01003, USA.
Hao
H
Wang
Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 710 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01003, USA.
Rubul
R
Mout
Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 710 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01003, USA.
Vincent M
VM
Rotello
aromatic substitution; gold nanoparticles; nanoparticle-protein affinity