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Chirality-Dependent Copper-Diphenylalanine Assemblies with Tough Layered Structure and Enhanced Catalytic Performance
Gong Zhang1,2, Yaoyu Liang1, Yuefei Wang1,3
1School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, People's Republic of China.
ACS Nano
|March 23, 2022
Summary
Chirality in diphenylalanine peptide (Phe-Phe) ligands influences metal-organic assembly with copper ions. Racemic Phe-Phe-copper assemblies exhibit superior mechanical and catalytic properties compared to L-Phe-Phe-copper, demonstrating chirality
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Supramolecular Chemistry
- Biomaterials Engineering
Background:
- Chiral regulation is crucial for designing functional materials.
- The influence of ligand chirality on metal-organic coordination assembly remains underexplored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the effect of diphenylalanine (Phe-Phe) peptide chirality on the structure and properties of copper-based metal-organic assemblies.
- To explore the potential of chirality-encoded molecular building blocks for advanced material development.
Main Methods:
- Self-assembly of Phe-Phe peptides with Cu2+ ions.
- Single-crystal X-ray diffraction for structural analysis.
- Mechanical testing (Young's modulus) and catalytic activity assays.
Main Results:
- Different chiral Phe-Phe ligands (L-Phe-Phe vs. racemic L+D-Phe-Phe) yielded distinct metal-organic assembly structures.
- Racemic L+D-Phe-Phe-Cu assemblies exhibited a 2.45-fold increase in Young's modulus compared to L-Phe-Phe-Cu.
- Both assemblies demonstrated enzyme-like kinetics, with L+D-Phe-Phe-Cu showing 1.14 times higher catalytic efficiency and enhanced stability/reusability than L-Phe-Phe-Cu.
Conclusions:
- The chirality of molecular building blocks can be encoded to construct highly functional materials.
- Chiral metal-organic assemblies offer tunable mechanical and catalytic properties.
- Racemic peptide ligands can lead to superior material performance in metal-organic frameworks.
![[DPEPhosbcpCu]PF6: A General and Broadly Applicable Copper-Based Photoredox Catalyst](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcloudfront.jove.com%2FCDNSource%2Fteasers%2F59739.jpg&w=3840&q=50)
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