Journal article
Protein capsules assembled via isobutyramide grafts: Sequential growth, biofunctionalization, and cellular uptake
D Mertz, J Cui, Y Yan, G Devlin, C Chaubaroux, A Dochter, R Alles, P Lavalle, JC Voegel, A Blencowe, P Auffinger, F Caruso
ACS Nano | Published : 2012
DOI: 10.1021/nn302024t
Abstract
We report the sequential assembly of proteins via the alternating physical adsorption of human serum albumin (HSA) and chemical grafting with isobutyramide (IBAM) or bromoisobutyramide (BrIBAM) groups. This approach, performed on silica template particles, leads to the formation of noncovalent protein films with controlled growth at the nanometer scale. Further, after template removal, hollow protein capsules with tunable wall thicknesses and high mechanical stability are obtained. The use of BrIBAM, compared to IBAM grafts, leads to significantly thicker capsule walls, highlighting the influence of the bromine atoms in the assembly process, which is discussed in terms of a theoretical model..
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Funding Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the Australian Research Council under the Discovery (F.C.) and Federation Fellowship (F.C.) schemes. We thank R. Curtain, A. Grant, and T. Gengenbach for helpful discussions regarding analysis techniques. F. Boulmedais, P. Schaaf and J. Best are thanked for helpful discussion. J. Aitken is acknowledged for preliminary analysis of EXAFS spectra performed at the Australian Synchrotron, Melbourne.