Helical nanofibers of N-(perfluorooctanoyl)cysteine ethyl ester in coordination polymers of Ag+

Abstract

We propose using the formation of coordination polymers of Ag⁺ to probe differences between the perfluorinated alkyl chain and the alkyl chain by deriving a thiol ligand, N-(perfluoroalkanoyl)cysteine. Rapid formation in EtOH of P-/M-helical nanofibrils of high thermostability was found for N-(perfluorooctanoyl)-L-/D-cysteine ethyl esters at the μM level upon mixing with Ag⁺, but not for the octanoyl counterpart. This difference was also observed in terms of circular dichroism-enantiomeric excess dependence.