Hierarchical metal-peptide assemblies with chirality-encoded spiral architecture and catalytic activity

摘要

We report the coordination assembly of the ferrocene-diphenylalanine(Fc-FF)with divalent copper ions(Cu^(2+))into metalpeptide assemblies(MPAs)with hierarchical spiral architectures.The MPA particles are composed of helically organized nanofibers which can be correlated to the logarithmic spirals.The MPAs are hierarchically porous with abundant Fc and Cu2+active sites and show much higher catalytic activity than natural laccase toward the decolorization reaction.Moreover,a series of hierarchical structures of the MPAs can be synthesized by controlling the temperature and enantiomeric excess(ee).The peptide enantiomers with higher ee values will self-assemble into highly complex and ordered structures,which show higher surface area and porosity and thus enhanced catalytic activity compared with those assembled by peptides with lower ee values.The results provide new insights into the vital role of chirality in directing the self-assembly of biomolecules into highly ordered complex functional structures.