Biomacromolecules 2008, 9, 3383–3388
3383
Collagen Cross-Linking with Au Nanoparticles Luciano Castaneda, Judith Valle, Nina Yang, Suzanne Pluskat, and Katarzyna Slowinska* Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, California State University Long Beach, Long Beach, California 90840 Received July 16, 2008; Revised Manuscript Received October 10, 2008
Tiopronin (N-(2-mercaptopropionyl)glycine)-protected gold nanoparticles (TPAu) were cross-linked to collagen via EDC (1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethyl aminopropyl) carbodiimide) coupling. On average, each TPAu forms eight amide bonds with collagen lysine moieties. The resulting gels were studied with environmental SEM, TEM, microDSC, and TNBS assay. The porous structure of collagen was significantly altered by cross-linking, resulting in the reduction of the pore size from ca. 140 to
