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Honeycomb Self‐Assembled Peptide Scaffolds by the Breath Figure Method
Author(s) -
Du Mingchun,
Zhu Pengli,
Yan Xuehai,
Su Ying,
Song Weixing,
Li Junbai
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
chemistry – a european journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.687
H-Index - 242
eISSN - 1521-3765
pISSN - 0947-6539
DOI - 10.1002/chem.201003021
Subject(s) - self assembly , antiparallel (mathematics) , supramolecular chemistry , honeycomb , hydrogen bond , stacking , materials science , molecule , nanotechnology , peptide , honeycomb structure , substrate (aquarium) , scaffold , chemistry , chemical engineering , crystallography , composite material , biomedical engineering , organic chemistry , medicine , biochemistry , physics , oceanography , engineering , quantum mechanics , geology , magnetic field
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.