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Updated: Jul 6, 2026

Formation of Ordered Biomolecular Structures by the Self-assembly of Short Peptides
Published on: November 21, 2013
Supramolecular self-assembled arrangements of maltose glyconanoparticles
Martina Fuss1, Mónica Luna, David Alcantara
1Instituto de Microelectrónica de Madrid (CSIC), E-28760 Tres Cantos, and Laboratory of Glyconanotechnology, CIC biomaGUNE-CIBER-BBN, E-20009 San SebastiAn, Spain.
Abstract:
Our group previously reported the preparation of water-soluble Au-Fe(x)O(y) nanoparticles functionalized with a maltose neoglycoconjugate. A fraction soluble in methanol was also separated and originated a new supramolecular polymeric aggregate. We report here the full characterization of this novel material by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), fluorescence emission, and atomic force microscopy. By means of noncontact dynamic atomic force microscopy, we have been able to obtain information about the organization of the organic components of the polymers, which eluded TEM analysis. We have observed that polymers packed in units about 65 nm in length and 40 nm in width on Au surfaces. The nanoparticles seem to be encapsulated by the organic material. We propose interactions between the sugar residues and the amphiphilic character of the maltose neoglycoconjugate (with a lipophilic undecane spacer) as responsible for the origin of these amazing supramolecular arrangements.
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