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Updated: Mar 11, 2026

Author Spotlight: In Silico Creation and Impact of Carbonylated Amino Acids on Protein Structure and Function
Published on: April 26, 2024
Molecular tuning of amino acids to form two-dimensional molecular networks driven by conformational preorganization
Young-Sang Youn1, Aram Jeon2, Do Hwan Kim3
1Department of Chemistry, Molecular-Level Interface Research Center, KAIST, Daejeon 305-701, Republic of Korea. hee-seung_lee@kaist.ac.kr and Nuclear Chemistry Research Division, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon 34057, Republic of Korea.
Abstract:
We investigated the self-assembly of rationally designed γ-Phe on Au(111) using scanning tunneling microscopy with density functional theory calculations. In contrast to α-Phe, γ-Phe self-assembled into ring-shaped clusters (RSCs) and two-dimensional (2D) molecular domains. The better self-association tendency was attributed to conformational preorganization through intramolecular interaction between ammonium and carboxylate functionalities.
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