A new way to synthesize various 3-dimensional architectures from organic materials has been found, signaling the start of “functional artificial protein development.” KAIST professor Hee-Seung Lee, from the Department of Chemistry, announced on September 28 that if a molecule is made so that molecular interaction in three different directions (x, y and z axes) can be controlled finely, various 3D organic architectures could be synthesized which weren’t possible until now. This research can pave new ways in organic element development, which is used in bio-engineering and material science. It can also be applied as building blocks for miniscule molecular machines.

Professor Lee’s team found a new principle for self-assembly inspired by β-peptides, an artificial peptide, enabling synthesis of organic architectures like windmills, flower petals, and rectangular bars. With this principle, molecular architectures that look like they have been cut with the top-down method can be made with the bottom-up method. In addition, a methodology for controlling the self-assembly process has been established, allowing synthesis of complex architectures from the same molecules.

Traditionally, methods for synthesizing inorganic nano-materials of various sizes and shapes has been well known, but when controlling the size and shape of self-assembled architectures of organic materials like peptides, it has proven itself to be a dilemma. Especially with the peptide, only circular shapes (sphere, tube, cylindrical rod) could be made.

Professor Lee said, “We are working on functional artificial protein development based on this research, and hope that this will stimulate molecular machine development while providing a way of understanding self-assembly.”

This research was co-funded by the National Research Foundation of Korea, specifically the Interface Molecular Control Research Center and Researcher Funding Service. Additionally, High Risk High Return Project research support from KAIST made it possible for the verification of the idea during the start of the research.

Meanwhile this research, which was led by KAIST Professor Hee-Seung Lee and Ph.D. student Sun-Beom Kwon from the Department of Chemistry, was published on August 23 in the online edition of Angewante Chemie International Edition as both the cover thesis and the feature thesis. The findings have also been introduced in the September 6 edition of the American Chemical Society’s Chemical & Engineering News(C&EM). The patent application of the research results are currently being processed.