Exploiting Ultrashort α,β-Peptides in the Colloidal Stabilization of Gold Nanoparticles

Colloidal gold nanoparticles (GNPs) have found wide-ranging applications in nanomedicine due to their unique optical properties, ease of preparation and functionalization.To avoid the formation of GNPs aggregates in the physiological environment, molecules such as lipids, polysaccharides or polymers are employed as GNPs coating.Here we present the colloidal stabilization of GNPs using ultra-short -peptides containing the repeating unit of a diaryl  2,3 -amino acid and characterized by an extended conformation.Differently functionalized GNPs have been characterized by UV, DLS and TEM analysis, allowing defining the best candidate able to inhibit the aggregation of GNPs not only in water but also in mouse serum.In particular, a short tripeptide was found able to stabilize GNPs physiological media over three months.This new system has been further capped with albumin obtaining an even more colloidal stable material, able to prevent the formation of a thick protein corona in physiological medium.