Theses and Dissertations

Issuing Body

Mississippi State University

Advisor

Fitzkee, Nicholas

Committee Member

Zhang, Dongmao

Committee Member

Emerson, Joseph

Date of Degree

8-14-2015

Original embargo terms

MSU Only Indefinitely

Document Type

Graduate Thesis - Campus Access Only

Major

Chemistry

Degree Name

Master of Science

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Department of Chemistry

Abstract

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have been of interest due to their biocompatibility and surface plasmon resonance. Biomolecules can spontaneously adsorb to their surface, a trait that could be exploited for drug targeting. It is unclear, however, whether protein-AuNP interactions at the nanoparticle surface are dependent on nanoparticle size. In this project, we investigate whether surface curvature can induce protein unfolding and multilayer binding in citrate-coated AuNPs of various sizes. An NMR-based approach was utilized to determine the adsorption capacity, and protein NMR spectra were compared to determine whether nanoparticle size influences protein interactions. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was used to support the results. Over a range of AuNP sizes (15-100 nm) proteins appear globular on the nanoparticle surface. Additionally, a single layer of proteins is adsorbed regardless of AuNP size. Our results are consistent for two differently sized proteins, GB3 (6 kDa) and bovine carbonic anhydrase (BCA, 29 kDa).

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11668/20026

Comments

protein NMR||nanoparticles||gold nanoparticles

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