Title
Self-Organization of Iron Sulfide Nanoparticles into Complex Multi-Compartment Supraparticles
Author
Turali-Emre, E. Sumeyra, Ahmet E. Emre, Drew A. Vecchio, Usha Kadiyala, J. Scott VanEpps, and Nicholas A. Kotov
Year
2023
Journal
Advanced Materials
Abstract
Self-assembled compartments from nanoscale components are found in all life forms. Their characteristic dimensions are in 50?1000 nm scale, typically assembled from a variety of bioorganic ?building blocks?. Among various functions that these mesoscale compartments carry out, protection of the content from the environment is central. Finding synthetic pathways to similarly complex and functional particles from technologically friendly inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) is needed for multitude of biomedical, biochemical, and biotechnological processes. Here, we show that FeS2 NPs stabilized by L-cysteine self-assemble into multicompartment supraparticles (mSPs). The NPs initially produce ?55 nm concave assemblies that reconfigure into ?75 nm closed mSPs with ?340 interconnected compartments with an average size of ?5 nm. The inter-compartmental partitions and mSP surface are formed primarily from FeS2 and Fe2O3 NPs, respectively. The intermediate formation of cup-like particles enables encapsulation of biological cargo. This capability was demonstrated by loading mSPs with DNA and subsequent transfection of mammalian cells. We also found that the temperature stability of the DNA cargo was enhanced compared to the traditional delivery vehicles. These findings demonstrate that biomimetic compartmentalized particles can be used to successfully encapsulate and enhance temperature stability of nucleic acid cargo for a variety of bioapplications. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Instrument
J-815
Keywords
compartmentalization,inorganic nanoparticle,self assembly,supraparticles,biomimetic compartmentalized particles