2003/04/25 by Meital Reches, Ehud Gazit · 9 citations
Materials Science · Chemistry · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Supramolecular Self-Assembly in Materials #Polydiacetylene-based materials and applications #Chemical Synthesis and Analysis
paper · doi:10.1126/science.1082387
openalex publication_date 2003/04/25 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/02
Tubular nanostructures are suggested to have a wide range of applications in nanotechnology. We report our observation of the self-assembly of a very short peptide, the Alzheimer's beta-amyloid diphenylalanine structural motif, into discrete and stiff nanotubes. Reduction of ionic silver within the nanotubes, followed by enzymatic degradation of the peptide backbone, resulted in the production of discrete nanowires with a long persistence length. The same dipeptide building block, made of D-phenylalanine, resulted in the production of enzymatically stable nanotubes.