Search

We describe the fabrication of hollow microspheres consisting of mesoporous silica nanoshells decorated with an inner layer of palladium nanoparticles and their use as Pd-nanoreactors in aqueous media. These palladium-equipped capsules can be used to promote the uncaging of propargyl-protected phenols, as well as Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling, in water and at physiologically compatible temperatures. Importantly, the depropargylation reaction can be accomplished in a bioorthogonal manner in the presence of relatively high concentrations of biomolecular components and even in the presence of mammalian cells.

We report the development of chimeric DNA binding peptides comprising a DNA binding fragment of natural transcription factors (the basic region of a bZIP protein or a monomeric zinc finger module) and an AT-Hook peptide motif. The resulting peptide conjugates display high DNA affinity and excellent sequence selectivity. Furthermore, the AT-Hook motif also favors the cell internalization of the conjugates.