Does the Abiotic Formation of Oligopeptides on TiO2 Nanoparticles Require Special Catalytic Sites? Apparently Not

Abstract

<div>Preprint version of the paper:</div><div>Does the Abiotic Formation of Oligopeptides on TiO2Nanoparticles Require Special Catalytic Sites? Apparently Not</div><div>by:</div><div>Marco Fabbiani, Marco Pazzi, Marco Vincenti, Gloria Tabacchi, Ettore Fois, Gianmario Martra<br></div><div><br></div><div>Published on 1st August 2018 in:</div><div><a href="https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/asp/jnn">Journal of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology</a>, 2018, 18, 5854-5857<br></div><div><br></div>The oligomerization of non-activated amino acids catalyzed by nanostrucrured mineral oxide surfaces holds promises as a sustainable route for the industrial production of polypeptides. To analyze the influence of the surface type on the catalytic process, we performed, via a mild Chemical Vapor Deposition approach, the oligomerization of Glycine on two samples of TiO2 nanoparticles characterized by different relative amounts of defective surface terminations. Based on infrared spectroscopy and mass spectrometry data, we show herein that the formation of peptide bonds on titania nanoparticles does not require highly energetic surface terminations, but can occur also on the most abundant and thermodynamically most stable {101} facets of nanosized anatase