Constrained Materials Synthesis Using Assembled Virus Cages

无机化学、生物无机化学和金属有机化学项目的这一奖项支持坦普尔大学特雷弗·道格拉斯博士的实验室研究。这项研究涉及在体外将豌豆褪绿斑驳病毒蛋白亚基自组装成腔大小为110、180、320或550埃的二十面体颗粒。这些病毒笼将用于模板定向合成离散大小的氧化铁颗粒。外壳蛋白将通过定点突变和化学衍生化进行修饰，通过引入组氨酸、半胱氨酸、谷氨酸、儿茶酚或磷酸部分来增强金属结合。然后，磁铁矿或磁铁铁矿纳米颗粒将在天然或衍生的病毒笼内生长。纳米颗粒的结构表征将使用电子衍射和高分辨率透射电子显微镜来完成。氧化铁颗粒的大小和温度依赖的磁性特性将通过SQUID磁测量和穆斯堡尔谱进行检测。使用病毒结构来包裹无机客体预计将产生一系列离散尺寸的无机颗粒，显示出为其使用量身定做的特性。这项研究有望在磁分离、磁共振成像和小型化信息存储等领域得到应用。

This award in the Inorganic, Bioinorganic and Organometallic Chemistry Program supports research in the laboratories of Dr. Trevor Douglas at Temple University. The research involves the in vitro self-assembly of cowpea chlorotic mottle virus protein subunits into icosahedral particles with cavity sizes of 110, 180, 320, or 550 angstroms. These viron cages will be used for the template directed synthesis of discretely sized iron oxide particles. The coat protein will be modified, via site-directed mutagensis and chemical derivatization, to enhance metal binding by introducing histidine, cysteine, glutamic acid, catechol or phosphate moieties. Magnetite or maghemite nanoparticles will then be grown inside the native or derivative viron cage. Structural characterization of the nanoparticles will be accomplished using electron diffraction and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. Size and temperature dependent magnetic characteristics of the iron oxide particles will be examined via SQUID magnetometry and Mossbauer spectroscopy. The use of viron architecture to entrap inorganic guests is expected to produce inorganic particles in a range of discrete sizes exhibiting properties tailored for their use. This research is expected to have applications in the fields of magnetic separation, magnetic resonance imaging, and miniaturized information storage.