Water soluble synthetic dieptide-based biodegradable nanoporous materials

Abstract

Two water-soluble synthetic dipeptides, β-alanyl-L-phenylglycine and its retro analogue L-phenylglycyl-β-alanine form a new class of dipeptide-based nanoporous materials, which are composed of a hybrid of α and β-amino acids. These materials adsorb N₂ gas with adsorption capacity of 173 cc g⁻¹ and 71 cc g⁻¹ and BET surface area of 56.76 m²g⁻¹ and 41.73 m²g⁻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.