Scientific Achievement
An international team led by Foundry researchers and involving three teams of users has discovered that peptoids can change shape when they form a nanosheet.
Significance and Impact
This is the first evidence that shows peptoids can change shape. With a better understanding of how peptoid chains organize themselves, this work will open the door to creating new types of durable and engineerable biomimetic nanomaterials.
Research Details
- One team of Foundry users studied the atomic details of the molecular structure of a peptoid nanosheet using the Foundry’s computational model in conjunction with data from solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy.
- The solid-state NMR data confirmed some structural predictions, but identified some bond angles that did not match the model.
- Foundry researchers worked two other teams to create a new model which matched the data better than before, and showed that peptoids change shape when they assemble into nanosheets.
