Synthesis of gold nanorods using short peptide sequences

Gold Nanorods have become increasingly explored materials in recent years for their wide variety of applications, from thermo-sensitive drug carriers, imaging and tumour detection to density recordings and molecular rulers. Gold nanorods can be synthesized by several different methods. However, all the reported methods require Cetrimonium bromide (CTAB) as a stabilizer. CTAB is a cationic surfactant that directs the growth of gold nanorods but is extremely toxic and largely limits the applications of synthesized nanorods for biomedical purposes. Recently, peptide-based self assembled materials have received much attraction and research suggests peptides can self-assemble into diverse morphologies, including nanorods. Diphenylalanine is one of the most studied peptide sequences that is known to self assemble into rods, fibers and needles. These peptide based morphologies are affected by various factors, such as, the pH value, the type of reducing solvents, peptide, and gold concentrations. In this study, we are focused on synthesizing gold nanorods using self-assembled peptides as a template. The replacement of CTAB with a bio-compatible peptides as a template should provide a better strategy to develop non-toxic nanorods with various potential applications for biomedical purposes.