Raeburn Jaclyn, Pont Guillaume, Chen Lin, Cesbron Yann, Lévy Raphaël, Adams Dave J
Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool, Crown Street, Liverpool, L69 7ZD, U.K.
Ecole Nationale Superieure de Clermont Ferrand, Ensemble Scientifique des Cézeaux, 24 Avenue des Landais - BP 10187, 63174, Aubiere Cedex, France.
Soft Matter. 2012 Jan 4;8(4):1168-1174. doi: 10.1039/c1sm06929b.
Fmoc-diphenylalanine (FmocFF or FmocPhePhe) is an important low molecular weight hydrogelator. Gelation can be induced by either lowering the pH of an aqueous solution of FmocFF or by the addition of water to a solution of FmocFF in a solvent such as DMSO. Despite the volume of literature on FmocFF, the mechanical properties reported for the gels vary significantly over four orders of magnitude and the origins of this variability is unclear. Here, we study systematically the mechanical properties of FmocFF gels prepared with different protocols. We demonstrate that the final pH of the gels is the principal determinant of the mechanical properties independently of the method of gel formation. We also show that additional variability arises from experimental factors such as the fraction of DMSO or the nature of the buffers used in selected systems.
芴甲氧羰基-二苯基丙氨酸（FmocFF或FmocPhePhe）是一种重要的低分子量水凝胶剂。通过降低FmocFF水溶液的pH值或向FmocFF在二甲基亚砜等溶剂中的溶液中加水，均可诱导凝胶化。尽管关于FmocFF的文献数量众多，但报道的凝胶机械性能在四个数量级上差异显著，且这种变异性的来源尚不清楚。在此，我们系统地研究了采用不同方案制备的FmocFF凝胶的机械性能。我们证明，凝胶的最终pH值是机械性能的主要决定因素，与凝胶形成方法无关。我们还表明，其他变异性源于实验因素，如二甲基亚砜的比例或所选系统中使用的缓冲液的性质。
