Peptides and peptidomimetics that behave as low molecular weight gelators

Abstract

Gelators may be divided into chemical gels and physical gels: the internal structure of chemical gels is made of chemical bonds, while physical gels are characterized by dynamic cross-links that are constantly created and broken. The gelator present in physical gels may be an inorganic or an organic compound, the latter having a molecular weight of ≤500 amu. These compounds are generally called "low molecular weight gelators" (LMWGs). In this tutorial review we want to focus our attention on short peptides or peptidomimetics that behave as LMWGs. Peptidomimetics are small protein-like molecules designed to mimic natural peptides. To efficiently design a peptidomimetic, local constraints must be introduced into the skeleton, to induce the formation of preferred secondary structures.

Rational design of a hexapeptide hydrogelator for controlled-release drug delivery

“…Zhang introduced the concept of "Peptide Lego" to classify EAK16 and similar ionic selfcomplementary peptides. 10 Based on this pioneering work, 2 , and demonstrated that it also serves as starting point for playing 'Peptide Lego', i.e. they observed that many analogues of (3) formed brillar hydrogels, whereby nonaromatic peptides formed weaker gels than aromatic analogues.…”

Significant enhancement of curcumin photoluminescence by a photosensitizing organogel: An optical sensor for pyrrole detection

“…Formation of organogel from the DPH 2 molecule will be beneficial for the enhancement of the curcumin fluorescence because it can exploit both the photosensitizing property of DPH and the solvent polarity of the organogel. This cooperative effect was observed in some photoluminescent organogels that were prepared from pseudo-peptidic gelator molecules [11,12].…”

Structural determinants in a library of low molecular weight gelators

“…1,2 A recent expansion in the number of LMWG systems reported has led to a rapid growth in reports of characterisation and applications of a particular class of this type of molecule, namely aromatic conjugated dipeptide LMWG. [3][4][5][6][7][8] These systems typically consist of a hydrophobic, often aromatic, dipeptide sequences conjugated to Fmoc (9-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl) 9,10 or naphthalene 3,4 ; further conjugations have also been reported. 11,12 Through the use of an environmental cue, 13 such as an enzymatic trigger, 14 temperature, 15,16 or light 12 some of these conjugates selfassemble into anisotropic fibrils that can eventually cause hydrogelation through the immobilisation of water by the fibrillar network.…”