Electromigration-induced directional steps towards the formation of single atomic Ag contacts

• Atasi Chatterjee,
• Christoph Tegenkamp and
• Herbert Pfnür

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 680–687, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.55

• various types of clusters, and their attachment to the environment to one-dimensional (1D) properties of atomic chains and contacts have been treated in many different studies [1][2][3][4]. However, this topic is not only of pure scientific interest, it is also relevant in the context of the reliable

Multilayer capsules made of weak polyelectrolytes: a review on the preparation, functionalization and applications in drug delivery

• Varsha Sharma and
• Anandhakumar Sundaramurthy

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 508–532, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.41

• such as proteins (e.g., antibodies, peptides, receptor molecules, etc.), lipids and carbohydrates have long been used for targeted delivery. The attachment of these ligands to the external multilayers can be achieved by covalent as well as noncovalent interactions. For example, the HuA33 antibody

• in multilayer films such as PGA/PLL, PAH/PAAm and hyaluronic acid (HA)/chitosan when one of the polymeric pair is grafted with an arginine–glycine–aspartic acid (RGD) peptide sequence [104][105][106]. Similarly, the PLL/PGA film showed better cell attachment when plain PGA was replaced with a laminin

Preparation and in vivo evaluation of glyco-gold nanoparticles carrying synthetic mycobacterial hexaarabinofuranoside

• Gennady L. Burygin,
• Polina I. Abronina,
• Nikita M. Podvalnyy,
• Sergey A. Staroverov,
• Leonid O. Kononov and
• Lev A. Dykman

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 480–493, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.39

• Institute of Biochemistry and Physiology of Plants and Microorganisms of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IBPPM RAS). Approximately 20 μL of glyco-GNPs suspension was applied to a film (Parafilm, USA) and a formvar-coated copper grid (200 mesh) was placed on the drop for 20 min. Thermal attachment was

Rational design of block copolymer self-assemblies in photodynamic therapy

• Maxime Demazeau,
• Laure Gibot,
• Anne-Françoise Mingotaud,
• Patricia Vicendo,
• Clément Roux and
• Barbara Lonetti

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 180–212, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.15

Molecular architectonics of DNA for functional nanoarchitectures

• Debasis Ghosh,
• Lakshmi P. Datta and
• Thimmaiah Govindaraju

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 124–140, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.11

• ligated by DNA via direct amidation, and the covalent attachment allowed the insertion of an array of porphyrin segments along the nucleotide sequence. Recently, a transmembrane lipid bilayer nanopore comprised of folded DNA became the center of attraction by mimicking natural protein pores. Howorka and

• designed a porphyrin-tethered single-DNA duplex as a transmembrane ion channel [94]. Their minimalistic design approach involved the attachment of six porphyrin units along the oligonucleotide sequence that facilitated the movement of ions through the channel. The schematic of molecular dynamics simulation

Internalization mechanisms of cell-penetrating peptides

• Ivana Ruseska and
• Andreas Zimmer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 101–123, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.10

• obstacle for the incorporation of siRNA/miRNA into the RISC complex. Because of this, the siRNA/miRNA molecule cannot be loaded into the complex and manifest its effect [13]. Regarding covalent strategies of cargo-attachment, there is a great promise in biorthogonal chemistry, which allows for the design

• scavenger receptors are known to be involved in multiple endocytic pathways. Furthermore, this endocytic path may not be used by the peptide alone, and may be the result of cargo attachment to the peptide [77]. Caveolae-mediated endocytosis (CvME) Caveolae are flask-shaped invaginations in the cellular

Long-term stability and scale-up of noncovalently bound gold nanoparticle-siRNA suspensions

• Anna V. Epanchintseva,
• Julia E. Poletaeva,
• Dmitrii V. Pyshnyi,
• Elena I. Ryabchikova and
• Inna A. Pyshnaya

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2568–2578, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.248

• structures usually consists of a AuNP, where siRNA is covalently bound to the NP surface through the thiol group, and the core is covered with a lipid or polymer shell [10][11][12][13]. Covalent bonding of siRNA to the surface of AuNPs is carried out in two stages: (1) covalent attachment of one chain of a

• synthesis of GFP mRNA, evidencing the siRNA noncovalent attachment to AuNPs [17]. Our studies demonstrated that noncovalent binding of siRNA to the AuNP surface is a promising approach to the creation of theranostic nanoconstructions because this bond maintains siRNA in its physiological (functional) form

• degradation of molecules, attachment of extra molecules from the incubation medium, and irreversible aggregation of the particles. Previous studies concerning vehicles for TNAs describe their therapeutic effect but not their stability and storage conditions [12][13][14][20][21]. The storage problem of the

Bombesin receptor-targeted liposomes for enhanced delivery to lung cancer cells

• Mohammad J. Akbar,
• Pâmela C. Lukasewicz Ferreira,
• Melania Giorgetti,
• Leanne Stokes and
• Christopher J. Morris

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2553–2562, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.246

• structure was modified to bear an N terminal ʟ-cysteine residue, which enables subsequent attachment to a functionalised lipid carrier. The peptide, hereafter termed cystabn, was prepared by fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl (Fmoc) solid-phase peptide synthesis and characterised by HPLC and mass spectrometry (data

Evaluation of click chemistry microarrays for immunosensing of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP)

• Seyed Mohammad Mahdi Dadfar,
• Sylwia Sekula-Neuner,
• Vanessa Trouillet,
• Hui-Yu Liu,
• Ravi Kumar,
• Annie K. Powell and
• Michael Hirtz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2505–2515, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.241

• –biotin sandwich strategy as well as the high selectivity of antigen–antibody interactions. Six different fabrication routes based on dibenzocyclooctyne- (DBCO-), thiol- and epoxy-functionalization of glasses and click chemistry attachment of biotinylated molecules (Figure 1) were used to obtain

• around 405 eV [39][40] proves the reaction of the azide to a triazole ring (Figure 2c). For the sample produced via route 1, the attachment of the biotin–thiol is shown here by the presence of the S 2p doublet with S 2p3/2 at 163.3 eV [41] (Figure 2b). Similarly, the thiol-terminated glass presents a

• % TEA to biotin–thiol. After incubation, the excess ink solution was rinsed with deionized water and suitable solvents and the samples were dried in a nitrogen stream. Antibody attachment via sandwich To detect the AFP antigen, anti-AFP was coated on the glass as antibody (Ab). As shown in Figure 2a and

Small protein sequences can induce cellular uptake of complex nanohybrids

• Jan-Philip Merkl,
• Malak Safi,
• Christian Schmidtke,
• Fadi Aldeek,
• Johannes Ostermann,
• Tatiana Domitrovic,
• Sebastian Gärtner,
• John E. Johnson,
• Horst Weller and
• Hedi Mattoussi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2477–2482, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.238

• . In one study, Jana and co-workers reported the design of fluorescent and plasmonic nanohybrids by covalent attachment of luminescent quantum dots (QDs) and Au nanorods. Further functionalization with glucose, using glutaraldehyde coupling chemistry, yielded nanohybrids that could subsequently be used

Mobility of charge carriers in self-assembled monolayers

• Zhihua Fu,
• Tatjana Ladnorg,
• Hartmut Gliemann,
• Alexander Welle,
• Asif Bashir,
• Michael Rohwerder,
• Qiang Zhang,
• Björn Schüpbach,
• Andreas Terfort and
• Christof Wöll

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2449–2458, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.235

• about 55–60°. It is noteworthy that the differences in the apparent tilt angles of the phenyl and anthracene units may be a result of different intramolecular twist angles. In particular, the nonsymmetrical attachment of the anthracene unit is known to result in a more upright orientation independently

Coating of upconversion nanoparticles with silica nanoshells of 5–250 nm thickness

• Cynthia Kembuan,
• Maysoon Saleh,
• Bastian Rühle,
• Ute Resch-Genger and
• Christina Graf

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2410–2421, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.231

• be similarly necessary for applications in plasmonics or chemical sensing [20][21]. One of the most versatile ways to protect the surface of NP, making hydrophobic particle surfaces hydrophilic and simultaneously providing functional groups for subsequent covalent attachment of, e.g., biomolecules

• the UCL emission spectra. This stepwise shell growth can most likely be also utilized for the coating of other NPs with similar hydrophobic surface chemistries of the initial particles such as iron oxide NPs or semiconductor NPs. Further applications can include the covalent attachment of biomolecules

Multiwalled carbon nanotube based aromatic volatile organic compound sensor: sensitivity enhancement through 1-hexadecanethiol functionalisation

• Nadra Bohli,
• Meryem Belkilani,
• Juan Casanova-Chafer,
• Eduard Llobet and
• Adnane Abdelghani

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2364–2373, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.227

• attachment of 1-hexadecanethiol on the Au-MWCNT sensor layer. The corresponding S–H stretch vibration mode band is found at 2360 cm−1 [27][28][29][30]. Moreover, other techniques were used for thiol monolayer characterisation. In previous work [31][32], different thiol chains were characterized by Raman

Integration of sharp silicon nitride tips into high-speed SU8 cantilevers in a batch fabrication process

• Nahid Hosseini,
• Matthias Neuenschwander,
• Oliver Peric,
• Santiago H. Andany,
• Jonathan D. Adams and
• Georg E. Fantner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2357–2363, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.226

• concept of this work is to partially embed the tip into the cantilever body, such that the attachment between the tip and the polymer is of a mechanical nature. We have developed a batch fabrication process to integrate silicon nitride tips into SU8 cantilevers. The whole structure, except for the tip, is

Atomic force acoustic microscopy reveals the influence of substrate stiffness and topography on cell behavior

• Yan Liu,
• Li Li,
• Xing Chen,
• Ying Wang,
• Meng-Nan Liu,
• Jin Yan,
• Liang Cao,
• Lu Wang and
• Zuo-Bin Wang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2329–2337, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.223

• engineering [1][2] as they affect many cell functions such as cell migration [3][4], attachment, proliferation [5][6] and differentiation [7][8]. Substrate stiffness and topography are two of the most important ECM physical parameters in regulating cell functions [9]. A previous study shows that cells

• patterns (dots, holes or hexagons) [39]. Influences of stiffness and topography on L929 cell responses by AFAM imaging To further assess the fidelity of cell attachment to each substrate on the nanoscale, the L929 cells cultured on different substrates were imaged using AFAM. Figure 5 shows that the cells

Gold-coated plant virus as computed tomography imaging contrast agent

• Alaa A. A. Aljabali,
• Mazhar S. Al Zoubi,
• Khalid M. Al-Batanyeh,
• Ali Al-Radaideh,
• Mohammad A. Obeid,
• Abeer Al Sharabi,
• Walhan Alshaer,
• Bayan AbuFares,
• Tasnim Al-Zanati,
• Murtaza M. Tambuwala,
• Naveed Akbar and
• David J. Evans

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1983–1993, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.195

• Figure 4C demonstrates the successful attachment of the VCAM1-PEG5000Au-CPMV to the surface of the RAW264.7 cells: VCAM1-PEG5000Au-CPMV in green, blue and red indicate the cell nucleus and the plasma membrane, respectively, the images represent the overall morphology of the RAW264.7 cells. Thus, we

• high-angle annular dark field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM) images further confirmed the existence of dimeric structures (Figure 5A), composed of a brighter core and a darker attachment. STEM-energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) elemental mapping measurements were conducted to analyze

• stained cells and the binding of the particles. Scale bars: 100 μm. (A) High-resolution TEM image of Antibody-PEG5000AuCPMV; (B) elemental EDX map of gold; the signal is distributed almost uniformly on the same position as the electron-dense particles in (A); (C) sulfur from the linker attachment to the

Porous silver-coated pNIPAM-co-AAc hydrogel nanocapsules

• William W. Bryan,
• Riddhiman Medhi,
• Maria D. Marquez,
• Supparesk Rittikulsittichai,
• Michael Tran and
• T. Randall Lee

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1973–1982, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.194

• ≈2900 cm−1 in addition to C–N stretching at ≈2100 cm−1, provides evidence of the presence of pDADMAC [82]. The images shown in Figure 1c,d illustrate the attachment of THPC gold seeds onto the pDADMAC-modified surface of the hydrogel core particles. Upon seeding, the diameters of the particles appear to

• the hydrogel core surface, and the SEM images demonstrate the attachment of colloidal THPC gold onto the pDADMAC-modified hydrogel core particles. To analyze the structure and morphology of the THPC gold-seeded pNIPAM-co-AAc hydrogel core particles in greater detail, we employed transmission electron

• , as well as the negatively charged THPC-Au seed particles and the positively charged pDADMAC layer [88]. As such, the stable attachment of the Ag particles to the polymer in aqueous solution was demonstrated by repeated cycles of centrifuging and redispersing the particles via sonication in water

Toxicity and safety study of silver and gold nanoparticles functionalized with cysteine and glutathione

• Barbara Pem,
• Igor M. Pongrac,
• Lea Ulm,
• Ivan Pavičić,
• Valerije Vrček,
• Darija Domazet Jurašin,
• Marija Ljubojević,
• Adela Krivohlavek and
• Ivana Vinković Vrček

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1802–1817, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.175

• at 37 °C and 5% CO2 to allow cell attachment. The following day, AgNPs, AuNPs, AgNO3 and HAuCl4 were added to the wells in different concentrations and treated for 24 h. The MTT assay, based on the reduction of the yellow tetrazolium salt MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium

Molecular attachment to a microscope tip: inelastic tunneling, Kondo screening, and thermopower

• Rouzhaji Tuerhong,
• Mauro Boero and
• Jean-Pierre Bucher

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1243–1250, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.124

• microsope (STM) and a surface are investigated by combining the local manipulation capabilities of the STM with inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy. By attachment of the molecule to the probe tip, the intrinsic physical properties similar to those exhibited by a free standing molecule become

• the tip above the center of the molecule only leads to a rotation of the molecule around its center whereas the molecule stays on the surface. No current trace was recorded as a function of the tip height, but the tip retraction after molecule attachment is estimated to be about 2 Å. At this stage

• . After attachment of a single MnPc molecule to the tip apex, an STM image of the Au(111) is first taken with this tip (Figure 2d). This image shows a characteristic signature of the presence of MnPc in the STM gap, namely a fuzzy vertical stripe, about 1.5 nm wide, on the left-hand side of the STM image

Photoactive nanoarchitectures based on clays incorporating TiO₂ and ZnO nanoparticles

• Eduardo Ruiz-Hitzky,
• Pilar Aranda,
• Marwa Akkari,
• Nithima Khaorapapong and
• Makoto Ogawa

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1140–1156, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.114

• clay surface from precursors dispersed with surfactants [116] or without [129][130], as well as the direct attachment of already formed particles to the clay [118][122]. The characteristics of the resulting materials are strongly influenced by the preparation conditions as the generated NPs show

Scavenging of reactive oxygen species by phenolic compound-modified maghemite nanoparticles

• Małgorzata Świętek,
• Yi-Chin Lu,
• Rafał Konefał,
• Liliana P. Ferreira,
• M. Margarida Cruz,
• Yunn-Hwa Ma and
• Daniel Horák

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1073–1088, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.108

• reactive sites accessible for the attachment of phenolic compounds. In free-radical grafting, the key role is played by hydroxyl radicals (·OH) that are generated through ascorbate radicals as a result of H2O2-induced oxidation of AA (Scheme 1). As the reaction proceeds at RT and no toxic byproducts are

• phenolic compounds and allow for the attachment of the cationic polymer (chitosan). Heparin is a polysaccharide, containing glycosaminoglycan with densely repeated O-(α-L-iodopyranosyluric acid 2-sulfate)-(1→4)-2-sulfoamino-2-deoxy-D-glucose 6-sulfate sequences obtained from the mucosal tissue of animals

Serum type and concentration both affect the protein-corona composition of PLGA nanoparticles

• Katrin Partikel,
• Robin Korte,
• Dennis Mulac,
• Hans-Ulrich Humpf and
• Klaus Langer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1002–1015, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.101

• attracted to NPs composed of hydrophobic core materials [30][31] resulting in a prolonged circulation time in blood [18]. Moreover, covalent attachment of apolipoprotein A–I and apolipoprotein E to the NP surface enables drug transport across the blood–brain barrier [32]. Here, both proteins were identified

Tungsten disulfide-based nanocomposites for photothermal therapy

• Tzuriel Levin,
• Hagit Sade,
• Rina Ben-Shabbat Binyamini,
• Maayan Pour,
• Iftach Nachman and
• Jean-Paul Lellouche

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 811–822, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.81

• chemical inertness of the outer chalcogen layer makes TMDC nanostructures very hard to disperse in many solvents, especially in water. This is a significant limitation when attempting to use these nanostructures for biological applications. Functionalization, especially the attachment of organic moieties

• ) nanocomposite. The composite is magnetic and forms a stable dispersion in water. It was characterized to verify the CAN-mag attachment to the nanotubes, and tested for PTT. Preliminary in-vitro PTT tests show that the WS2-CAN-mag nanocomposite successfully eliminated two types of cancerous cells: HeLa cells

• conjugation of CAN-mag nanoparticles, and later on, of the polymers. At the same time, attachment of CAN-mag to the nanotubes is clearly visible (Figure 2d–f). Rather than conformally coating the nanotubes, CAN-mag nanoparticles seem to attach to the surface of the nanotubes in small clusters, appearing dark

On the transformation of “zincone”-like into porous ZnO thin films from sub-saturated plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition

• Alberto Perrotta,
• Julian Pilz,
• Stefan Pachmajer,
• Antonella Milella and
• Anna Maria Coclite

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 746–759, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.74

• DHS900 heating stage attachment (Anton-Paar, Austria), using a heating rate of 30 °C/min up to 600 °C. During the ramp, samples were kept at 200, 300, 400 and 600 °C for 30 min each. The integration time was set to 3 min per measurement [52]. All data were recorded using the same setup and are

Commercial polycarbonate track-etched membranes as substrates for low-cost optical sensors

• Paula Martínez-Pérez and
• Jaime García-Rupérez

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 677–683, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.67

• 9.88 (see Figure 2c). Finally, we studied the effect of the APTES-mediated covalent attachment of the PCTE membrane to the silicon substrate on the reflectivity spectrum. What we could conclude is that the APTES attachment preserves and even improves the reflectivity spectra of the PCTE membranes in

• it was demonstrated that the spectral response of the PCTE membranes is as expected (i.e., that for a FP interferometer) and that the covalent attachment to a silicon substrate improves the reflectivity spectrum and offers a mechanical support, our aim was to demonstrate their suitability for use in