Single- and multi-component chiral supraparticles as modular enantioselective catalysts
Abstract
Nanoscale biological assemblies exemplified by exosomes, endosomes and capsids, play crucial roles in all living systems. Supraparticles (SP) from inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) replicate structural characteristics of these bioassemblies, but it is unknown whether they can mimic their biochemical functions. Here, we show that chiral ZnS NPs self-assemble into 70–100 nm SPs that display sub-nanoscale porosity associated with interstitial spaces between constituent NPs. Similarly to photosynthetic bacterial organelles, these SPs can serve as photocatalysts, enantioselectively converting L- or D-tyrosine (Tyr) into dityrosine (diTyr). Experimental data and molecular dynamic simulations indicate that the chiral bias of the photocatalytic reaction is associated with the chiral environment of interstitial spaces and preferential partitioning of enantiomers into SPs, which can be further enhanced by co-assembling ZnS with Au NPs. Besides replicating a specific function of biological nanoassemblies, these findings establish a path to enantioselective oxidative coupling of phenols for biomedical and other needs.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Oct 23, 2019
- Source ID
- 10.1038/s41467-019-12134-4
Entities
People
- Chuanlai Xu
- Hendrik Heinz
- Juan Liu
- Liguang Xu
- Naomi Ramesar
- Nicholas A. Kotov
- Si Li
Organizations
- National Science Foundation