Xie Yanyan, Wang Xiangchao, Huang Renliang, Qi Wei, Wang Yuefei, Su Rongxin, He Zhimin
State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, ‡School of Environmental Science and Engineering, and §Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), Tianjin Key Laboratory of Membrane Science and Desalination Technology, Tianjin University , Tianjin 300072, PR China.
Langmuir. 2015 Mar 10;31(9):2885-94. doi: 10.1021/la504757c. Epub 2015 Feb 25.
Supramolecular self-assembly offers an efficient pathway for creating macroscopically chiral structures in biology and materials science. Here, a new peptide consisting of an N-(9-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl) headgroup connected to an aromatic phenylalanine-tryptophan dipeptide and terminated with zwitterionic lysine (Fmoc-FWK) and its cationic form (Fmoc-FWK-NH2) were designed for self-assembly into chiral structures. It was found that the Fmoc-FWK peptide self-assembled into left-handed helical nanoribbons at pH 11.2-11.8, whereas it formed nanofibers at pH 5 and 12 and large flat ribbons composed of many nanofibers in the pH range of 6-11. However, only nanofibers were observed in the cases of Fmoc-FWK-NH2 at different values. A series of structural characterizations based on CD, FTIR, UV-vis and fluorescence spectroscopy reveal that the electrostatic and aromatic interactions and the associated hydrogen bonding direct the self-assembly into various structures. The enhanced π-π stacking and hydrogen bonding were found in the helical nanoribbons. This difference in intermolecular interactions should be derived from the ionization of carboxyl and amino groups from lysine residues at different pH values. Furthermore, we performed molecular dynamics simulations to gain insight into the assembly mechanisms. The results imply that a relatively rigid molecular conformation and the strong intramolecular aromatic interaction between Trp and Fmoc groups favor chiral self-assembly. This study is the first attempt to design a Fmoc-tripeptide for the fabrication of helical structures with macroscopic chirality, which provides a successful example and allows us to create new peptide-based chiral assembly systems.
超分子自组装为在生物学和材料科学中创建宏观手性结构提供了一条有效途径。在此,设计了一种新的肽,其由连接到芳香族苯丙氨酸 - 色氨酸二肽上的N - (9 - 芴甲氧羰基)头基组成,并以两性离子赖氨酸(Fmoc - FWK)及其阳离子形式(Fmoc - FWK - NH₂)终止,用于自组装成手性结构。研究发现,Fmoc - FWK肽在pH 11.2 - 11.8时自组装成左旋螺旋纳米带,而在pH 5和12时形成纳米纤维,在pH 6 - 11范围内形成由许多纳米纤维组成的大的扁平带。然而,在不同值的Fmoc - FWK - NH₂情况下仅观察到纳米纤维。基于圆二色光谱(CD)、傅里叶变换红外光谱(FTIR)、紫外 - 可见光谱和荧光光谱的一系列结构表征表明,静电和芳香相互作用以及相关的氢键引导自组装成各种结构。在螺旋纳米带中发现了增强的π - π堆积和氢键。这种分子间相互作用的差异应源于赖氨酸残基的羧基和氨基在不同pH值下的电离。此外,我们进行了分子动力学模拟以深入了解组装机制。结果表明,相对刚性的分子构象以及色氨酸(Trp)和芴甲氧羰基(Fmoc)基团之间强烈的分子内芳香相互作用有利于手性自组装。本研究首次尝试设计一种Fmoc - 三肽用于制备具有宏观手性的螺旋结构,这提供了一个成功的例子,并使我们能够创建新的基于肽的手性组装系统。