Carbon Nanotubes Encapsulated in Coiled-Coil Peptide Barrels

Specific functionalization of 1D nanomaterials such as near infrared (nIR) fluorescent single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) is essential for colloidal stability and tailoring of their interactions with the environment. Here, we show that de novo designed alpha-helical coiled-coil peptide barrels (αHBs) with appropriate pores encapsulate and solubilize SWCNTs. In contrast, barrels without or with narrow pores showed a much smaller efficiency. Absorption/fluorescence spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy indicate that the SWCNTs are incorporated into the αHB's pore. The resulting hybrid SWCNT@αHBs display periodic surface coverage with a 40 nm pitch and remain fluorescent in the nIR. This approach presents a novel concept to encapsulate, discriminate and functionalize SWCNTs non-covalently with peptides and holds great promise for future applications in bioimaging or drug delivery.