H-Bonding Control of Molecular Self Assembly

这项工作的目的是利用有序的分子环境来控制晶体表面的生长。在生物矿化中，大自然使用许多蛋白质序列来识别特定的晶面。为了尝试理解和模拟这一过程，将首先使用羧酸盐阵列的功能化凝胶基质来控制晶体生长。功能化尿素凝胶将首次用于研究空间基团取向对碳酸钙晶体生长的影响。然后将合成小的约束肽序列（20个残基，含4个Asp或Glu残基，有或没有内酰胺桥），并研究它们与碳酸钙和硫化钙等目标矿物相互作用的能力。第二代和第三代拟肽分子将被设计用于与特定的晶面相互作用。通过这个奖项，有机和大分子化学项目支持了耶鲁大学化学系安德鲁·汉密尔顿博士的研究。汉密尔顿博士将探索生物矿化自然过程中涉及的基本化学过程。设计的有机分子和特定的蛋白质序列将被研究它们控制矿物质如碳酸钙和硫化钙生长的能力。控制碳酸钙晶体生长的能力在生物医学科学中用于控制骨骼生长。控制硫化钙生长的能力在半导体工业中有应用。通过这个项目的训练，学生将获得无机材料研究和超分子有机化学方面的经验，因此他们将具备计算机和制药行业所需的技能。

The objective of this work is to use ordered molecular environments to control growth at a crystal surface. In biomineralization, nature uses a number of protein sequences to recognize specific crystal faces. To try to understand and model this process, functionalized gel matrices which present an array of carboxylates will first be used to control crystal growth. Functionalized bis urea gelators will first be used to study the effect of spatial group orientation on calcium carbonate crystal growth. Small constrained peptide sequences will then be synthesized (20 residues with 4 Asp or Glu residues and with and without internal lactam bridges) and their ability to interact with target minerals such as calcium carbonate and calcium sulfide will be investigated. Second and third generation peptidomimetic molecules will then be designed to interact with specific crystal faces. With this award, the Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry Program is supporting the research of Dr. Andrew D. Hamilton of the Department of Chemistry at Yale University. Dr. Hamilton will explore the basic chemical processes involved in the natural process of biomineralization. Designed organic molecules and specific protein sequences will be investigated for their ability to control the growth of minerals such as calcium carbonate and calcium sulfide. The ability to control calcium carbonate crystal growth has applications in biomedical science for controlled bone growth. The ability to control calcium sulfide growth has applications in the semiconductor industry. Students trained as a result of working on this project will gain experience in inorganic materials research as well as supramolecular organic chemistry, hence they will have skills needed by both the computer and pharmaceutical industries.