Honeycomb Self‐Assembled Peptide Scaffolds by the Breath Figure Method

Abstract

The self-assembly of molecules into desired architectures is currently a challenging subject for the development of supramolecular chemistry. Here we present a facile "breath figure" assembly process through the use of the self-assembled peptide building block diphenylalanine (L-Phe-L-Phe, FF). Macroporous honeycomb scaffolds were fabricated, and average pore size could be regulated, from (1.00±0.18) μm to (2.12±0.47) μm, through the use of different air speeds. It is indicated that the honeycomb formation is humidity-, solvent-, concentration-, and substrate-dependent. Moreover, water molecules introduced from "breath figure" intervene in the formation of hydrogen bonds during FF molecular self-assembly, which results in a hydrogen bond configuration transition from antiparallel β sheet to parallel β sheet. Meanwhile, as a result of the higher polarity of water molecules, the FF molecular array is transformed from laminar stacking into a hexagonal structure. These findings not only elucidate the FF molecule self-assembly process, but also strongly support the mechanism of breath figure array formation. Finally, human embryo skin fibroblast (ESF) culture experiments suggest that FF honeycomb scaffolds are an attractive biomaterial for growth of adherent cells with great potential applications in tissue engineering.

Hierarchical self-assembly of di-, tri- and tetraphenylalanine peptides capped with two fluorenyl functionalities: from polymorphs to dendrites

“…33 Also, macroporous honeycomb scaffolds were successfully fabricated through the self-assembly of FF using the breath figure method, in which moist air/water droplets were responsible for the pore formation. 34 Thus, the formation of external filled region seems to precede the appearance of the hole ( Figure S2c). It should be noted that the presence of gelatinous rounded aggregates is supported by the role played by aromatic end groups as facilitators of gelation.…”

Peptide Nanophotonics: From Optical Waveguiding to Precise Medicine and Multifunctional Biochips

“…As shown in the former sections, both biological fibers and bioinspired peptide nanostructures FF‐PNT and FFF‐PNTp exhibit nonlinear second order optical response, and thus make them possible to guide second harmonic frequency wave in their noncentrosymmetric clad both for medical diagnostics and device applications . To test their waveguiding property, vertically aligned FF‐PNT were fabricated by the breath figure method . The FF‐solution was rapidly evaporated, leaving microscale FF‐PNT scaffolds.…”

Langmuir-Schaefer film deposition onto honeycomb porous films for retinal tissue engineering

“…Water droplets condense and grow on the cold surface of the evaporating polymer solution and arrange into an ordered hexagonal lattice in order to reduce the free energy. Finally, a porous honeycomb-like pattern is formed after complete evaporation of both the organic solvent and the water droplets [18][19][20]. The BF method presents clear advantages compared to other methods such as lithography and micro-contact printing -it is inexpensive and fast, it does not require any specific and costly equipment, and it allows a precise control of pore size through control of process parameters e.g.…”

“…The BF method presents clear advantages compared to other methods such as lithography and micro-contact printing -it is inexpensive and fast, it does not require any specific and costly equipment, and it allows a precise control of pore size through control of process parameters e.g. air humidity and polymer concentration [18][19][20]. In addition, film thickness can be easily modified by changing experimental parameters [19].…”