STUDY OF AUTO-ORGANIZATION IN SOLUTION OF HIERARCHICAL STRUCTURES OF PEPTIDE IN PRESENCE OF METALLIC NANOPARTICLES
The creation of peptide-based nanomaterials has stood out in recent decades, due to its versatility and operational advantages. In addition to presenting easier and milder synthetic routes, they can be applied in several areas, including regenerative medicine and cell cultures, since they present numerous routes for their functionalization, which, consequently, can favor the formation of spheres, fibers, micelles and tubes. In this context, this project aims to investigate the self-organization process of amphiphilic peptides sequences in aqueous media, evaluating the effect of polymorphism with the variation of the substrates concentration. The process of nucleation, growth and stabilization of gold nanoparticles to these peptide systems were also studied, using spectroscopic, microscopic and scattering techniques, thus the self-organization process variables of these structures, such as pH, temperature, reagent concentration and solvent polarity. In addition, these systems showed potential application as organocatalysts in asymmetric catalysis, using aldol reactions, since the configurations of the nanostructures formed can influence the enantioselectivity of the reactions. Hybrids containing gold nanoparticles performed colorimetric detection of metal ions in aqueous solutions, acting as agents for removing heavy metals in wastewater.