Nanobioarchitectures based on chlorophyll photopigment, artificial lipid bilayers and carbon nanotubes

• Marcela Elisabeta Barbinta-Patrascu,
• Stefan Marian Iordache,
• Ana Maria Iordache,
• Nicoleta Badea and
• Camelia Ungureanu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2316–2325, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.240

• pristine and f-CNTs do not induce toxicity in mice [14][15][16][17]. On the other hand, biocoating SWCNTs with biomolecules such as phospholipids conveys biocompatibility and less toxicity to carbon nanotubes. Moreover, SWCNTs are characterized by less accumulation in body as compared to multi-walled

Localized surface plasmon resonances in nanostructures to enhance nonlinear vibrational spectroscopies: towards an astonishing molecular sensitivity

• Dan Lis and
• Francesca Cecchet

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2275–2292, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.237

• enhancement. Nonetheless, these results underlined that the TIR configuration offers undisputable advantages for surface-enhanced SFG spectroscopy. To go further, Tourillon et al. applied this hybrid configuration to demonstrate the label-free recognition of biomolecules, namely in the case of the avidin

Advances in NO₂ sensing with individual single-walled carbon nanotube transistors

• Kiran Chikkadi,
• Matthias Muoth,
• Cosmin Roman,
• Miroslav Haluska and
• Christofer Hierold

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2179–2191, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.227

• attached to their surface. This property has generated interest for their application in sensing gases, chemicals and biomolecules. With over a decade of research, a clearer picture of the interactions between the carbon nanotube and its surroundings has been achieved. In this review, we intend to

Modification of a single-molecule AFM probe with highly defined surface functionality

• Fei Long,
• Bin Cao,
• Ashok Khanal,
• Shiyue Fang and
• Reza Shahbazian-Yassar

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2122–2128, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.221

• is also called a ‘click’ reaction, has been widely used for surface functionalization and linking of biomolecules [17]. The reaction is compatible with a wide variety of polar functional groups that commonly exist in biomolecules and is highly efficient in various solvents. Chen and co-authors

Sequence-dependent electrical response of ssDNA-decorated carbon nanotube, field-effect transistors to dopamine

• Hari Krishna Salila Vijayalal Mohan,
• Jianing An and
• Lianxi Zheng

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2113–2121, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.220

• sensors [1][2][3]. Of the numerous biomolecules, detection of dopamine (DA) is critical because of its high clinical importance in various brain functions such as learning, memory formation, message transfer in the central nervous system and understanding the pathological processes of Parkinson’s disease

Effect of channel length on the electrical response of carbon nanotube field-effect transistors to deoxyribonucleic acid hybridization

• Hari Krishna Salila Vijayalal Mohan,
• Jianing An,
• Yani Zhang,
• Chee How Wong and
• Lianxi Zheng

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2081–2091, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.217

• comparable to the size of single biomolecules, and to the electrostatic screening length in physiological solutions, which offers high sensitivity because of their large specific area; ii) their tubular structure allows fabrication of ultrasensitive, single nanotube-based devices; and iii) their excellent

Effect of silver nanoparticles on human mesenchymal stem cell differentiation

• Christina Sengstock,
• Jörg Diendorf,
• Matthias Epple,
• Thomas A. Schildhauer and
• Manfred Köller

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2058–2069, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.214

• rapidly to biomolecules, such as DNA [27], negatively charged cell-wall components and the sulfhydryl groups of metabolic enzymes [7][28][29], which results in the inhibition of DNA-replication, an increase in membrane permeability and the disturbance of different metabolic pathways [30]. In contrast to

Effects of surface functionalization on the adsorption of human serum albumin onto nanoparticles – a fluorescence correlation spectroscopy study

• Pauline Maffre,
• Stefan Brandholt,
• Karin Nienhaus,
• Li Shang,
• Wolfgang J. Parak and
• G. Ulrich Nienhaus

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2036–2047, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.212

• contact with extracellular fluids such as blood plasma or lung epithelial lining fluid, which contain a huge variety of dissolved biomolecules including lipids and proteins. These can adsorb onto the NP surface and completely enshroud the NP, forming the so-called “protein corona” [11][12][13][14][15

• approaches involve a separation of NPs with adsorbed proteins and proteins free in solution, such as (ultra)centrifugation [36] or size exclusion chromatography [11]. Such approaches will inevitably modify the composition of only loosely adsorbed biomolecules in the corona because these will immediately

Electrostatic interplay: The interaction triangle of polyamines, silicic acid, and phosphate studied through turbidity measurements, silicomolybdic acid test, and ²⁹Si NMR spectroscopy

• Anne Jantschke,
• Katrin Spinde and
• Eike Brunner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2026–2035, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.211

• Anne Jantschke Katrin Spinde Eike Brunner TU Dresden, Fachrichtung Chemie und Lebensmittelchemie, Bioanalytische Chemie, 01062 Dresden, Germany 10.3762/bjnano.5.211 Abstract The discovery of long-chain polyamines as biomolecules that are tightly associated to biosilica in diatom cell walls has

• silica. Keywords: phosphate; self-assembly; silica–polyamine interactions; silicomolybdic acid test; 29Si NMR; turbidity measurements; Introduction Long-chain polyamines (LCPAs) were previously found biomolecules that are tightly associated to the biosilica of various diatom species [1][2][3][4][5

Carbon nano-onions (multi-layer fullerenes): chemistry and applications

• Juergen Bartelmess and
• Silvia Giordani

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1980–1998, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.207

• with biomolecules was reported by the groups of Plonska-Brzezinska, Simionescu and Echegoyen in 2010 [36]. In the first step, small CNOs (6–8 shells) were oxidized by using conc. H2SO4/HNO3 and subsequently functionalized with PEG to study their cytotoxicity on rat dermal fibroblasts. The result was

• amidation reaction. In another amidation step, some of the unreacted carboxylic acid groups on the CNO surface were functionalized with biotin, which allows the attachment of biomolecules such as avidin. This first covalent functionalization of CNOs with biomolecules, promoted by biotin–avidin interactions

• imaging that the CNOs were deposited in the lysosomes of the cells. Biological sensing: In the aforementioned study of Luszczyn et al. [36], CNOs were covalently functionalized with biomolecules and studied for the first time as biosensors by using avitin–biotin interactions. The CNO served as linking

PVP-coated, negatively charged silver nanoparticles: A multi-center study of their physicochemical characteristics, cell culture and in vivo experiments

• Sebastian Ahlberg,
• Alexandra Antonopulos,
• Jörg Diendorf,
• Ralf Dringen,
• Matthias Epple,
• Rebekka Flöck,
• Wolfgang Goedecke,
• Christina Graf,
• Nadine Haberl,
• Jens Helmlinger,
• Fabian Herzog,
• Frederike Heuer,
• Stephanie Hirn,
• Christian Johannes,
• Stefanie Kittler,
• Manfred Köller,
• Katrin Korn,
• Wolfgang G. Kreyling,
• Fritz Krombach,
• Jürgen Lademann,
• Kateryna Loza,
• Eva M. Luther,
• Marcelina Malissek,
• Martina C. Meinke,
• Daniel Nordmeyer,
• Anne Pailliart,
• Jörg Raabe,
• Fiorenza Rancan,
• Barbara Rothen-Rutishauser,
• Eckart Rühl,
• Carsten Schleh,
• Andreas Seibel,
• Christina Sengstock,
• Lennart Treuel,
• Annika Vogt,
• Katrin Weber and
• Reinhard Zellner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1944–1965, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.205

• model is discussed in detail in [20]. It mainly involves an oxidative dissolution of silver nanoparticles, typically by dissolved oxygen, and a passivation of the surface by chloride and sulfur-containing biomolecules. So far, there are no quantitative data on the dissolution of silver nanoparticles in

• complex biological media. Considering the available literature data (see [1][12][20][31][42][43]), it can be assumed that silver ions are complexed by biomolecules and that silver nanoparticles are passivated in the presence of sulfide, sulfur-containing components and chloride. This passivation slows

Real-time monitoring of calcium carbonate and cationic peptide deposition on carboxylate-SAM using a microfluidic SAW biosensor

• Anna Pohl and
• Ingrid M. Weiss

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1823–1835, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.193

• , especially from native shell extracts [40], but even from recombinant sources [41][42]. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the suitability of microfluidic SAW biosensor systems with respect to elucidating the interaction between small biomolecules and calcium carbonate, one of the most common

• organic biomolecules and calcium carbonate in the presence of carboxylate surfaces could be reproducibly quantified in real-time assays. Here, we report a case study with calcium carbonate, both in pure aqueous systems and in the presence of citric acid. We also investigated the two cationic peptides ES9

The surface properties of nanoparticles determine the agglomeration state and the size of the particles under physiological conditions

• Christoph Bantz,
• Olga Koshkina,
• Thomas Lang,
• Hans-Joachim Galla,
• C. James Kirkpatrick,
• Roland H. Stauber and
• Michael Maskos

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1774–1786, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.188

• fact that the silica particles are sufficiently stabilized in the absence of biomolecules, these proteins induce the agglomeration of silica NPs yielding an average hydrodynamic radius of 91 nm for the agglomerates. To derive agglomerate sizes in the cases in which proteins were present, DLS data were

Non-covalent and reversible functionalization of carbon nanotubes

• Antonello Di Crescenzo,
• Valeria Ettorre and
• Antonella Fontana

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1675–1690, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.178

• , temperature, light and redox conditions. Interestingly, many biomolecules have this capability, providing a viable alternative when reversibility of these processes is preferred. Solvent variation. The first and easiest method to remove the non-covalent functionalization is to change the solvent system [82

Donor–acceptor graphene-based hybrid materials facilitating photo-induced electron-transfer reactions

• Anastasios Stergiou,
• Georgia Pagona and
• Nikos Tagmatarchis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1580–1589, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.170

• , although graphene-based biomaterials are out of the scope of this mini-review, GO has been covalently functionalized with peptides, antibodies and other biomolecules for applications in diagnostics, novel therapeutic approaches and near infrared (NIR) photo-thermal therapies [53]. A representative work

Current state of laser synthesis of metal and alloy nanoparticles as ligand-free reference materials for nano-toxicological assays

• Christoph Rehbock,
• Jurij Jakobi,
• Lisa Gamrad,
• Selina van der Meer,
• Daniela Tiedemann,
• Ulrike Taylor,
• Wilfried Kues,
• Detlef Rath and
• Stephan Barcikowski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1523–1541, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.165

• particle properties, e.g., by inducing aggregation processes in the presence of biomolecules [20], and hence complicating bio-response studies. The removal of surfactants or residual ligands from colloidal nanoparticles is possible, e.g., by centrifugation [21], diafiltration [22] or tangential-flow

• formation of ZnO-SMS [71]. However, the reader should note that in case of ZnO, biocompatibility of these SMS may be further compromised due to the possibility of elevated Zn2+ ion release upon laser irradiation. Zn2+ ions are known to have adverse effects on biological systems by chelating biomolecules and

• control. Several groups could actually demonstrate that the presence of organic ligands during the PLAL-process (in situ conjugation) may be used for size control, predominantly yielding reduced particle sizes and narrowed size distributions [84][85]. This was also shown for biomolecules like

A sonochemical approach to the direct surface functionalization of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles with (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane

• Bashiru Kayode Sodipo and
• Azlan Abdul Aziz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1472–1476, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.160

• cause them to agglomerate in ionic solution [1]. In addition, SPION exhibit a lack of affinity for biomolecules. One of the methods used to minimize these effects is through surface modification or functionalization of the SPION. Organic compounds, such as (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (APTES), are

Protein-coated pH-responsive gold nanoparticles: Microwave-assisted synthesis and surface charge-dependent anticancer activity

• Dickson Joseph,
• Nisha Tyagi,
• Christian Geckeler and
• Kurt E.Geckeler

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1452–1462, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.158

• methodologies with biological molecules as the templates. Towards this purpose, biomolecules such as proteins/enzymes and DNA possess significant advantage as both reducing and capping agents on gold, which is the most extensively studied system in this category [11][12]. Gold nanoparticles are known for their

• ]. Biomolecules have been reported to interact with gold salts and reduce them into metallic gold, acting both as a reductant and stabilizer [12][17][18][19][20][21]. Proteins, such as bovine serum albumin, silk fibroin protein, chicken egg white lysozyme, α-amylase, green fluorescent protein and apoferritin have

Near-field photochemical and radiation-induced chemical fabrication of nanopatterns of a self-assembled silane monolayer

• Ulrich C. Fischer,
• Carsten Hentschel,
• Florian Fontein,
• Linda Stegemann,
• Christiane Hoeppener,
• Harald Fuchs and
• Stefanie Hoeppener

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1441–1449, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.156

• reactive groups. Hence, they form templates for the spatially defined fabrication of functionalities for the attachment of, e.g., biomolecules [1][2][3], polymers [4][5][6], or other organic or inorganic nanoparticles [7][8] with nanometer precision. Potential applications of such chemically structured

The protein corona protects against size- and dose-dependent toxicity of amorphous silica nanoparticles

• Dominic Docter,
• Christoph Bantz,
• Dana Westmeier,
• Hajo J. Galla,
• Qiangbin Wang,
• James C. Kirkpatrick,
• Peter Nielsen,
• Michael Maskos and
• Roland H. Stauber

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1380–1392, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.151

• , the GI tract also contains additional biobarriers, such as mucous matrices and other biomolecules. Thus, future studies need to consider experimentally this layer of additional complexity to resolve the mechanisms and (patho)biological effects of silica nanoparticles in vitro and in vivo. Generally

Purification of ethanol for highly sensitive self-assembly experiments

• Kathrin Barbe,
• Martin Kind,
• Christian Pfeiffer and
• Andreas Terfort

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1254–1260, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.139

• modification [4], e.g., as etch resist for microfabrication [5][6], as support for molecular systems like metal-organic frameworks or biomolecules [7], or for the tuning of electronic properties of metal surfaces [8][9][10][11][12], to mention just a few. One reason for the popularity of SAMs is their ease of

Model systems for studying cell adhesion and biomimetic actin networks

• Dorothea Brüggemann,
• Johannes P. Frohnmayer and
• Joachim P. Spatz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 1193–1202, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.131

• membrane by biotin-streptavidin linkages. This anchorage resulted in the formation of a cortex-like actin structure within the GUVs. However, the GUVs in this study were contaminated by agarose, which adhered to the lipid membrane. A very similar approach for growing GUVs with embedded biomolecules was

Antimicrobial nanospheres thin coatings prepared by advanced pulsed laser technique

• Alina Maria Holban,
• Valentina Grumezescu,
• Alexandru Mihai Grumezescu,
• Bogdan Ştefan Vasile,
• Roxana Truşcă,
• Rodica Cristescu,
• Gabriel Socol and
• Florin Iordache

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 872–880, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.99

• materials [37], metaloporphyrines [38] and for biomolecules, e.g., poly(lactic acid) (PLA) [39], poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) PLGA [40], polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) [41] and fibrinogen [42]. Our recent reports have highlighted the capability of the laser processing technique to prepare thin coatings based on

In vitro toxicity and bioimaging studies of gold nanorods formulations coated with biofunctional thiol-PEG molecules and Pluronic block copolymers

• Tianxun Gong,
• Douglas Goh,
• Malini Olivo and
• Ken-Tye Yong

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 546–553, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.64

• the encapsulated AuNRs synthesized in this study. The bright red and orange scattered spots located within the cells suggest that the AuNRs were internalized into the cells by non-specific cellular uptake since no biomolecules were attached to our gold formulations. Huang et al. performed a similar

Exploring the complex mechanical properties of xanthan scaffolds by AFM-based force spectroscopy

• Hao Liang,
• Guanghong Zeng,
• Yinli Li,
• Shuai Zhang,
• Huiling Zhao,
• Lijun Guo,
• Bo Liu and
• Mingdong Dong

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 365–373, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.42

• strength, adhesive properties, and elastic modulus [27][28][29], have been investigated by FS. In the mechanical measurements of biomolecules, the unfolding of the regular secondary structure of proteins was characterized by periodical peaks on the force–distance curves, which allowed for the