Investigation of physical properties of diphenylalanine peptide nanotubes having different chirality

Abstract

The primary structure of all amino acids exists in 2 different chiralities: L (left) and D (right) [1]. However, in biological nature almost all amino acids are L. This choice is due to evolution process, but its reasons are not enough clear yet. To find some physical sources of such difference the investigation of 2 type of diphenylalanine (FF) peptide nanotubes (PNT), based on L-FF and D-FF, was performed. Both types of PNT were fabricated by standard method and their physical properties (X-ray structural data, optical dichroism, polarization, and piezoelectric response, etc.) were studied.