Nanotechnology: Peptides as biological semiconductors

Nanotechnology: Peptides as biological semiconductors

Charlotte A. E. Hauser¹ & Shuguang Zhang²

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Abstract

A simple peptide that assembles into desirable nanoscale structures is a striking example of how the whole can be greater than the sum of its parts. What's more, the assembly process is controllably reversible.

Could a simple, short peptide made of naturally occurring amino acids form structures that have the optical and electronic properties of semiconductor nanocrystals? Reporting in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, Gazit, Rosenman and colleagues¹ describe a peptide formed from just two phenylalanine amino acids that does exactly that.

1. Charlotte A. E. Hauser is at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, 31 Biopolis Way, The Nanos, Singapore 138669.
   Email: chauser@ibn.a-star.edu.sg
2. Shuguang Zhang is at the Center for Biomedical Engineering, and the Center for Bits and Atoms, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
   Email: shuguang@mit.edu