A pH-Induced Reversible Conformational Switch Able to Control the Photocurrent Efficiency in a Peptide Supramolecular System.

External stimuli are potent tools that Nature uses to control protein function and activity. For instance, during viral entry and exit, pH variations are known to trigger large protein conformational changes. In Nature, also the electron transfer (ET) properties of ET proteins are influenced by pH-induced conformational changes.

Building Supramolecular DNA-Inspired Nanowires on Gold Surfaces: From 2D to 3D.

Three building blocks have been designed to chemically link to a gold surface and vertically self-assemble through thymine-adenine hydrogen bonds. Starting from these building blocks, two different films were engineered on gold surface. Film 1 consists of adenine linked to lipoic acid (Lipo-A) to covalently bind to the gold surface, and ZnTPP linked to a thymine (T-ZnTPP).