Soft materials nanoarchitectonics: liquid crystals, polymers, gels, biomaterials, and others

• Katsuhiko Ariga

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2025, 16, 1025–1067, doi:10.3762/bjnano.16.77

Biocatalytic synthesis and ordered self-assembly of silica nanoparticles via a silica-binding peptide

• Mustafa Gungormus

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2023, 14, 280–290, doi:10.3762/bjnano.14.25

• . The results presented here provide a biomimetic route to the single-step synthesis and assembly of SiO2 nanoparticles into colloidal gels or opal-like structures. Keywords: biocatalysis; biomimetics; nanoparticle; peptide; self-assembly; silica; Introduction Ordered structures of nanoparticles have

Luminescent supramolecular hydrogels from a tripeptide and nitrogen-doped carbon nanodots

• Maria C. Cringoli,
• Slavko Kralj,
• Marina Kurbasic,
• Massimo Urban and
• Silvia Marchesan

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1553–1562, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.157

• with narrower diameter distribution. Keywords: carbon nanodots; composites; hydrogels; nanomaterials; peptide self-assembly; Introduction Carbon nanodots (CNDs) are quasi-spherical nanoparticles with a diameter less than 10 nm. They are a very interesting class of nanocarbons because of their

• drug delivery and even sensing, if the nanodots were suitably derivatized to release a drug or undergo fluorescence quenching upon binding of a specific target molecule. Results and Discussion Peptide self-assembly in the presence of NCNDs The incorporation of carbon nanostructures into hydrogels is a

• rationale could also be applied to NCNDs and the tripeptide DLeu-Phe-Phe, which were evaluated for co-assembly into hydrogels following a pH trigger from alkaline to neutral. Different scenarios were envisaged: the presence of the NCNDs 1) could promote peptide self-assembly by acting as a nucleation agent

Molecular dynamics simulations of mechanical failure in polymorphic arrangements of amyloid fibrils containing structural defects

• Hlengisizwe Ndlovu,
• Alison E. Ashcroft,
• Sheena E. Radford and
• Sarah A. Harris

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 429–440, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.50

• by protein or peptide self-assembly depends on the environmental growth conditions such as pH, temperature, salt concentration and mechanical agitation [10]. Since amyloid polymorphs have been observed with drastically different morphologies [11] and chemical properties [12], it is important to

Self-organizing bioinspired oligothiophene–oligopeptide hybrids

• Alexey K. Shaytan,
• Eva-Kathrin Schillinger,
• Elena Mena-Osteritz,
• Sylvia Schmid,
• Pavel G. Khalatur,
• Peter Bäuerle and
• Alexei R. Khokhlov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2011, 2, 525–544, doi:10.3762/bjnano.2.57

• applications as building blocks in nano- and biotechnology. Understanding the molecular details of peptide self-assembly into fibrillar aggregates has been a challenge owing to the large size, low solubility, and the noncrystalline and heterogeneous nature of the fibrils. During the last decade, considerable