“Chun-Long Chen and his team developed a method to control the shape of the peptoid helix.”Other groups before us were able to synthesize peptoid nanohelices, however specifically managing their shapes and handedness remained a challenge,” stated Chen. Chens group found that they might control the shape of the helix by manipulating the series of the peptoid side chains.Adding another measurement to peptoid researchTo further investigate how peptoids can assemble, Chen worked together with associates from the University of Washington, Harvard University, Binghamton University, and Zhejiang Sci-Tech University. Expanding on their previous two-dimensional research studies of peptoid structures, the group was able to effectively develop a three-dimensional helical nanostructure.They observed that the addition of unique “practical groups” of atoms in their peptoid sequences enabled them to develop structures with special functions– similar to protein assemblies. Controlling peptoid shape, as outlined in their research documents, is simply the first step.References: “Assembly of brief amphiphilic peptoids into nanohelices with controllable supramolecular chirality” by Renyu Zheng, Mingfei Zhao, Jingshan S. Du, Tarunya Rao Sudarshan, Yicheng Zhou, Anant K. Paravastu, James J. De Yoreo, Andrew L. Ferguson and Chun-Long Chen, 16 April 2024, Nature Communications.DOI: 10.1038/ s41467-024-46839-y”Hierarchical Self-Assembly of Multidimensional Functional Materials from Sequence-Defined Peptoids” by Li Shao, Dehong Hu, Shao-Liang Zheng, Thi Kim Hoang Trinh, Wenhao Zhou, Haoyu Wang, Yanxu Zong, Changning Li and Chun-Long Chen, 24 April 2024, Angewandte Chemie International Edition.DOI: 10.1002/ anie.202403263 Both research studies were mostly supported by the Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences program as part of the Energy Frontier Research Centers program: CSSAS– The Center for the Science of Synthesis Across Scales.
Chens group discovered that they might manage the shape of the helix by manipulating the sequence of the peptoid side chains.Adding another measurement to peptoid researchTo further examine how peptoids can put together, Chen teamed up with associates from the University of Washington, Harvard University, Binghamton University, and Zhejiang Sci-Tech University. Expanding on their previous two-dimensional research studies of peptoid structures, the team was able to effectively establish a three-dimensional helical nanostructure.They observed that the addition of unique “practical groups” of atoms in their peptoid sequences enabled them to produce structures with special functions– similar to protein assemblies. Controlling peptoid shape, as described in their research documents, is just the very first step.References: “Assembly of short amphiphilic peptoids into nanohelices with manageable supramolecular chirality” by Renyu Zheng, Mingfei Zhao, Jingshan S. Du, Tarunya Rao Sudarshan, Yicheng Zhou, Anant K. Paravastu, James J. De Yoreo, Andrew L. Ferguson and Chun-Long Chen, 16 April 2024, Nature Communications.DOI: 10.1038/ s41467-024-46839-y”Hierarchical Self-Assembly of Multidimensional Functional Materials from Sequence-Defined Peptoids” by Li Shao, Dehong Hu, Shao-Liang Zheng, Thi Kim Hoang Trinh, Wenhao Zhou, Haoyu Wang, Yanxu Zong, Changning Li and Chun-Long Chen, 24 April 2024, Angewandte Chemie International Edition.DOI: 10.1002/ anie.202403263 Both research studies were mainly supported by the Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences program as part of the Energy Frontier Research Centers program: CSSAS– The Center for the Science of Synthesis Across Scales.