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Synthesis

A Simpler Route To Multifunctional Nanocomposites

Viruses serve as biological templates for nanoscale heterostructures

by Jyllian N. Kemsley
June 1, 2009 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 87, Issue 22

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Credit: Chem. Mater.
Multifunctional bacteriophages are coated with Rh nanoparticles along the bodies, and Fe3O4 is attached to the tips (top).
Credit: Chem. Mater.
Multifunctional bacteriophages are coated with Rh nanoparticles along the bodies, and Fe3O4 is attached to the tips (top).

Viruses can be used as biological templates for nanoscale heterostructures without the need for extensive genetic engineering, a group led by Raymond E. Schaak of Pennsylvania State University reports (Chem. Mater., DOI: 10.1021/cm900869u). Schaak and colleagues took advantage of nonspecific electrostatic interactions along the body of the M13 bacteriophage, a filamentous virus that infects bacteria, to nucleate rhodium nanoparticles and coat the length of the phage with Rh. Having previously selected a phage with a peptide at the tip that preferentially binds Fe3O4, the researchers then added Fe3O4 particles to the head of the phage. The combined modifications turned the phage into a magnetically separable catalyst, with the rhodium able to hydrogenate styrene to ethylbenzene and the Fe3O4 contributing magnetic properties. The approach "provides a straightforward platform for designing site-directed multifunctionality into commercially available M13 bacteriophage and serves as a simple method for introducing multicomponent architectures into phage-based scaffolds," the authors write.

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