(647a) Block Copolypeptides: Biomimetic Soft Matter and Its Use to Assemble Hard Matter

There are increasing demands in the context of nanotechnology for new synthetic paradigms. In this talk we will present one possibility, based a biomimetic approach to nanostructured hard materials under benign conditions (pH 7, room temperature). A series of Lys-b-Gly and Lys-b-Ala polymers have been used to assemble nanostructured silica materials, and demonstrate the ability to control both particle morphology (e.g. plates/spheres) as well as particle porosity. Further, we will present results rationalizing the observed particle morphologies based on 1) solution conditions, 2) polypeptide composition, and 3) polypeptide conformation. The results from this work will be compared with recent developments reported using poly-L-lysine as well as recent work from our lab using polymers (Lys-b-Phe) that form kinetically trapped soft objects. We will also report preliminary efforts that show it is possible to assemble nanostructured metallic materials (e.g. Au, Ag) with these templates and that side-chain functionalization of one/both blocks (e.g. a Glu-b-Lys polymer with a EG-functionalized Glu block) further expands the avenues open to the materials chemist.