Self-assembly and application of diphenylalanine-based nanostructures

Abstract

Micro- and nanostructures fabricated from biological building blocks have attracted tremendous attention owing to their potential for application in biology and in nanotechnology. Many biomolecules, including peptides and proteins, can interact and self-assemble into highly ordered supramolecular architectures with functionality. By imitating the processes where biological peptides or proteins are assembled in nature, one can delicately design and synthesize various peptide building blocks composed of several to dozens of amino acids for the creation of biomimetic or bioinspired nanostructured materials. This tutorial review aims to introduce a new kind of peptide building block, the diphenylalanine motif, extracted with inspiration of a pathogenic process towards molecular self-assembly. We highlight recent and current advances in fabrication and application of diphenylalanine-based peptide nanomaterials. We also highlight the preparation of such peptide-based nanostructures as nanotubes, spherical vesicles, nanofibrils, nanowires and hybrids through self-assembly, the improvement of their properties and the extension of their applications.

Amyloid-based nanosensors and nanodevices

“…Furthermore, the peptide fiber fabrication process is much faster, less costly and does not require a clean-room. [67][68][69][70][71] Ideally, scaleddown systems can perform as many operations as those currently conducted in a standard-size laboratory, but with lower sample volumes, shorter analysis times and reduced costs. All the mentioned systems can be applied for the accurate detection and quantification of biological molecules in small samples which will have an impact on drug discovery strategies, on food and water quality, on research-related applications and, finally, on clinical diagnostics.…”

“…Regarding self-assembled peptide nanostructures, the diphenylalanine (FF) dipeptide and its aromatic dipeptide analogue, the tert-butyl dicarbonate Boc-FF, have been extensively investigated for the development of LOC and microfluidic devices. [68][69][70] Depending on the fabrication process, different nanostructures, such as nanotubes, nanowires and nanoparticles can be created. The main advantage of the FF peptide structures that makes them suitable material for nanofabrication is their strong mechanical properties, their resistance to proteolytic, thermal and chemical manipulations.…”

Ostwald’s rule of stages governs structural transitions and morphology of dipeptide supramolecular polymers

“…The diphenylalanine (FF) structural motif and its derivatives are among the most widely studied minimal building blocks that allow the formation of ordered polymer-like assemblies at the nano-scale [17][18][19][20] . This class of molecular species exhibits effective self-assembly properties, and has been shown to generate a rich variety of ultrastructures, with functional physical and chemical properties, including piezoelectricity 21,22 , luminescence 23 and robust mechanical characteristics [24][25][26][27][28][29] .…”

Self-Assembled Templates of Aromatic Pentapeptides for Synthesis of CdS Quantum-Dots to Detect the Trace Amounts of Hg²⁺ in Aqueous Solutions

“…Various methods, such as the use of templates of microemulsions and sol-gels from organic or aqueous media, have been developed for synthesizing CdS QDs 5,6 . However, the synthesis of CdS QDs with the use of templates formed by self-assembly of peptide-based building blocks into ordered nanowires has received little attention 4 .…”

“…We found that under specific environments and conditions FFACD aromatic pentapeptides with the N-terminus protected by carboxyl Ac-or a 9-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl group Fmoc-can act as building blocks that self-assemble to produce nanostructures such as nanotubes, nanobelts, nanofibers, micelles, and vesicles. Such nanostructures can be applied in drug delivery, tissue engineering, and preparing templates of inorganic nanostructures, among other uses 4,13 …”