Metal-Peptide Nonafoil Knots and Decafoil Supercoils

Despite the frequent occurrence of knotted frameworks in protein structures, the latent potential of peptide strands to form entangled structures is rarely discussed in peptide chemistry. Here we report the construction of highly entangled molecular topologies from Ag(I) ions and tripeptide ligands. The efficient entanglement of metal-peptide strands and the wide scope for design of the amino acid side chains in these ligands enabled the construction of metal-peptide 9(1) torus knots and 10(1)(2) torus links. Moreover, steric control of the peptide side chain induced ring opening and twisting of the torus framework, which resulted in an infinite toroidal supercoil nanostructure.

Automated summary

The study reports the construction of highly entangled molecular topologies using Ag(I) ions and tripeptide ligands, including the construction of metal-peptide 9(1) torus knots and 10(1)(2) torus links. The efficient entanglement of metal-peptide strands and steric control of the peptide side chains enabled the formation of an infinite toroidal supercoil nanostructure.