State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, P.R. China.
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, P.R. China.
Small. 2015 Jun 24;11(24):2893-902. doi: 10.1002/smll.201403645. Epub 2015 Mar 10.
The wetting and drying of drops on flexible fibers occurs ubiquitously in nature, and the capillary force underlying this phenomenon has motivated our great interest in learning how to direct supramolecular self-assembly. Here, the hierarchical co-assembly of two aromatic peptides, diphenylalanine (FF) and ferrocene-diphenylalanine (Fc-FF), is reported via sequential, combinatorial assembly. The resulting dandelion-like microstructures have highly complex architectures, where FF microtube arrays serve as the scapes and the Fc-FF nanofibers serve as the flower heads. Homogeneous FF microtubes with diameters tailored between 1 and 9 μm and wall thickness ranging from 70 to 950 nm are initially formed by controlling the degree of supersaturation of the FF and the water content. Once the FF microtubes are formed, the growth of the dandelion-like microstructures is then driven by the capillary force, derived from the wetting and drying of the Fc-FF solution on the FF microtubes. This simple and ingenious strategy offers many opportunities to develop new and creative methods for controlling the hierarchical self-assembly of peptides and thus building highly complex nano and microstructures.
液滴在柔性纤维上的润湿和干燥在自然界中普遍存在，而这一现象背后的毛细作用力激发了我们极大的兴趣，促使我们努力学习如何指导超分子自组装。在这里，通过顺序组合，报告了两种芳香族肽，即苯丙氨酸（FF）和二茂铁-苯丙氨酸（Fc-FF）的分级共组装。所得的蒲公英状微结构具有高度复杂的结构，其中 FF 微管阵列作为花茎，Fc-FF 纳米纤维作为花朵。通过控制 FF 的过饱和度和含水量，最初形成直径在 1 到 9 微米之间且壁厚在 70 到 950 纳米之间的均匀 FF 微管。一旦形成 FF 微管，蒲公英状微结构的生长就由毛细作用力驱动，该作用力源自 Fc-FF 溶液在 FF 微管上的润湿和干燥。这种简单而巧妙的策略为开发控制肽的分级自组装和构建高度复杂的纳米和微米结构的新的和创造性方法提供了许多机会。
