Preparation of mesoporous hematite particles by a forced hydrolysis reaction accompanying a peptide production reaction

The influence of carbodimide (CI), well known as a condensing agent for producing peptides from l-phenylalanine (l-Phe), on the formation of hematite (α-Fe2O3) particles through a forced hydrolysis reaction of acidic FeCl3 solution was examined. The large ellipsoidal particles were produced together with needle-like α-FeOOH and fine Fe3O4 ones in the systems both with l-Phe and CI, though the system only with CI was not essentially changed the particle shape. CI produced the characteristic large ellipsoidal particle accompanying the production of peptides by condensing l-Phe. This behavior was explained by the adsorption of peptides on β-FeOOH and polynuclear (PN) particles; the adsorption of peptides retarded the phase transformation from β-FeOOH to hematite along with the heterogeneous aggregation of PNs, resulting the large ellipsoidal hematite particles. CI reduced Fe3+ to Fe2+ ions during aging the solution. The decomposition of urea, by-products of peptide formation, produced two kinds of amines to raise the solution pH and provided α-FeOOH and Fe3O4 particles. The large ellipsoidal hematite particles exhibited large specific surface area and high mesoporosity by adsorption of peptides onto PN particles within the hematite particles. The morphology and inner structure of hematite particles were exceedingly altered by using a reaction of peptide production and this procedure is expected for a new developing method of high-quality porous materials.