UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

Reductively PEGylated carbon nanomaterials and their use to nucleate 3D protein crystals: A comparison of dimensionality

Leese, HS; Govada, L; Saridakis, E; Khurshid, S; Menzel, R; Morishita, T; Clancy, AJ; ... Shaffer, MSP; + view all (2016) Reductively PEGylated carbon nanomaterials and their use to nucleate 3D protein crystals: A comparison of dimensionality. Chemical Science , 7 (4) pp. 2916-2923. 10.1039/c5sc03595c. Green open access

[thumbnail of c5sc03595c.pdf]
Preview
Text
c5sc03595c.pdf - Published Version

Download (2MB) | Preview

Abstract

A range of carbon nanomaterials, with varying dimensionality, were dispersed by a non-damaging and versatile chemical reduction route, and subsequently grafted by reaction with methoxy polyethylene glycol (mPEG) monobromides. The use of carbon nanomaterials with different geometries provides both a systematic comparison of surface modification chemistry and the opportunity to study factors affecting specific applications. Multi-walled carbon nanotubes, single-walled carbon nanotubes, graphite nanoplatelets, exfoliated few layer graphite and carbon black were functionalized with mPEG-Br, yielding grafting ratios relative to the nanocarbon framework between ca. 7 and 135 wt%; the products were characterised by Raman spectroscopy, TGA-MS, and electron microscopy. The functionalized materials were tested as nucleants by subjecting them to rigorous protein crystallization studies. Sparsely functionalized flat sheet geometries proved exceptionally effective at inducing crystallization of six proteins. This new class of nucleant, based on PEG grafted graphene-related materials, can be widely applied to promote the growth of 3D crystals suitable for X-ray crystallography. The association of the protein ferritin with functionalized exfoliated few layer graphite was directly visualized by transmission electron microscopy, illustrating the formation of ordered clusters of protein molecules critical to successful nucleation.

Type: Article
Title: Reductively PEGylated carbon nanomaterials and their use to nucleate 3D protein crystals: A comparison of dimensionality
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1039/c5sc03595c
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1039/c5sc03595c
Language: English
Additional information: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Chemistry
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10025082
Downloads since deposit
74Downloads
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item