Hydrogel and Organogel Formation by Hierarchical Self-Assembly of Cyclic Peptides Nanotubes.
Breaking away from the linear structure of previously reported peptide-based gelators, this study reports the first example of gel formation based on the use of cyclic peptides made of alternating d- and l-amino acids, known to self-assemble in solution to form long nanotubes. Herein, a library of cyclic peptides was systemically studied for their gelation properties in various solvents, uncovering key parameters driving both organogel and hydrogel formation. The hierarchical nature of the self-assembly process in water was characterised by a combination of electron microscopy imaging and small-angle X-ray scattering, revealing a porous network of entangled nanofibres composed by the aggregation of several cyclic peptide nanotubes. Rheology measurements then confirmed the formation of soft hydrogels.
['Shaikh|Huda|H|http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1397-9935', 'Rho|Julia Y|JY|', 'Macdougall|Laura J|LJ|http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6255-4223', 'Gurnani|Pratik|P|http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6559-5514', 'Lunn|Andrew M|AM|http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2884-2755', 'Yang|Jie|J|', 'Huband|Steve|S|', 'Mansfield|Edward D H|EDH|http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6033-6783', 'Peltier|Raoul|R|http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0959-8259', 'Perrier|Sebastien|S|http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5055-9046']
D020100:Hydrogels D043942:Nanotubes D019151:Peptide Library D010456:Peptides, Cyclic D012212:Rheology D053838:Scattering, Small Angle D012997:Solvents D014867:Water D014961:X-Ray Diffraction
hydrogel organogel self-assembly cyclic peptide nanofibres