Functionally Engineered Carbon Nanotubes-Peptide Nucleic Acid Nanocomponents

摘要

Conjugation of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with biomolecules having molecular recognition results in highly functionalized CNTs, which serve as the templates for self-assembly of novel nanomaterials. Here, we report the synthesis of novel nanocomponents by conjugating single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) with peptide nucleic acid (PNA), an artificial DNA analogue by using carbodiimide coupling. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is used as a primary tool for their characterization. SEM micrographs confirm the formation of desired structures. We also modeled and simulated the SWNT-PNA interface using the PM3 semi-empirical package in Gaussian03 RevB.03 program suite for electron transfer and found that there exists an extended set of orbitals.