Peptides as biological semiconductors

摘要

A simple peptide that assembles into desirable nanoscale structures is a striking example of how the whole can be greater than the sum of its parts. What's more, the assembly process is controllably reversible.rnCould a simple, short peptide made of naturally occurring amino acids form structures that have the optical and electronic properties of semiconductor nano-crystals? Reporting in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, Gazit, Rosenman and colleagues describe a peptide formed from just two phenylalanine amino acids that does exactly that.