Water soluble synthetic dieptide-based biodegradable nanoporous materials

Two water-soluble synthetic dipeptides, beta-alanyl-L-phenylglycine and its retro analogue L-phenylglycyl-beta-alanine form a new class of dipeptide-based nanoporous materials, which are composed of a hybrid of alpha and beta-amino acids. These materials adsorb N-2 gas with adsorption capacity of 173 cc g(-1) and 71 cc g(-1) and BET surface area of 56.76 m(2)g(-1) and 41.73 m(2)g(-1) for these dipeptides, respectively. Moreover, these nanoporous materials are found to be biodegradable towards soil bacterial consortium making them an interesting class of eco-friendly dipeptide-based nanoporous materials.