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Updated: Apr 11, 2026

Formation of Ordered Biomolecular Structures by the Self-assembly of Short Peptides
Published on: November 21, 2013
Assembly, growth and nonlinear thermo-optical properties of nitropeptides
Santu Bera1, Deepak K S Ambast, Bipul Pal
1Department of Chemical Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata, Mohanpur, West Bengal 741246, India. deba_h76@yahoo.com deba_h76@iiserkol.ac.in.
Abstract:
The molecular self-assembly, growth and nonlinear thermo-optical properties of three synthetic aromatic–aliphatic hybrid nitropeptides have been investigated. The X-ray crystallography of nitropeptide 2 containing a glutamic acid moiety shows that the peptide adopts a dimeric structure using intermolecular hydrogen bonding as well as face to face π–π stacking interactions. Moreover, nitropeptide 2 exhibits nonlocal nonlinear optical properties. When a Gaussian laser beam passes through nitropeptide 2, the peptide shows several concentric rings due to spatial self-phase modulation (SSPM). However, the homologous peptide 1 containing an aspartic acid moiety and peptide 3 containing an achiral α-aminoisobutyric acid (Aib) moiety adopt sheet-like structures and have no self-phase modulation effect. The report describes the thermo-optical properties consistent with assumption and calculation and is promising for their applications in nonlinear optical modulation devices.
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