Epitaxial Crystallization of Insulin on an Ordered 2D Polymer Template.

Two-dimensional polymers (2DP) are a new class of materials that consist of a monolayer of ordered molecular building blocks, which have been covalently linked. One of these monomers was self-assembled on a flat muscovite mica scaffold and subsequently the organic layer was polymerized. The resulting flat and stable 2DP layer was used as a template for protein crystallization. Crystals of insulin were epitaxially grown on the template, whereas insulin crystals grown on clean muscovite mica had a random orientation. The template was selective, considering that no epitaxially ordered crystals formed of hen egg white lysozyme, bovine serum albumin, or talin.