Valorization of Protein Materials Through Mechanochemistry and Self-Assembly

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Nanotechnology
• Biotechnology

Background:

• Proteins are excellent building blocks for self-assembly, forming protein nanofibrils (PNFs) with desirable mechanical properties.
• PNFs are structurally related to amyloid fibrils and show potential for bioplastics and high-tech applications.
• Integrating hydrophobic organic compounds with proteins is challenging using traditional methods.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a scalable methodology for creating advanced nanomaterials by combining mechanochemistry and self-assembly.
• To valorize proteins by integrating them with hydrophobic organic compounds like dyes and drug molecules.
• To explore sustainable processes for fabricating protein-based materials from renewable sources.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing milling (mechanochemistry) to process solid proteins.
• Employing aqueous self-assembly techniques.
• Developing a hybrid methodology combining mechanochemistry and self-assembly for material synthesis.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated a novel, scalable approach for producing protein-based hybrid materials.
• Successfully integrated hydrophobic organic compounds (dyes, drug molecules) with proteins.
• Mechanochemistry offers a complementary method for creating protein-hydrophobic compound hybrids, which are difficult to synthesize otherwise.

Conclusions:

• The combined mechanochemistry and self-assembly approach is promising for energy-efficient production of advanced nanomaterials.
• This methodology enables the creation of novel protein-based hybrid materials, including those with hydrophobic organic compounds.
• This work contributes to sustainable fabrication of advanced materials from renewable protein sources.