Chang Jui-Wen, Chakravarthy Rajan Deepan, Chu Nien-Tzu, Liu Jyun-Cheng, Yeh Mei-Yu, Lin Hsin-Chieh
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu 300093, Taiwan, Republic of China.
Department of Chemistry, Chung Yuan Christian University, Zhongli 320314, Taiwan, Republic of China.
Bioconjug Chem. 2023 Mar 15;34(3):562-571. doi: 10.1021/acs.bioconjchem.3c00032. Epub 2023 Feb 27.
We report a new peptide-based urchin-shaped structure prepared through two-step self-assembly of tetraphenylethylene-diserine (). Hydrogelation generated nanobelts through the first stage of self-assembly of ; these nanobelts further transformed on silicon wafers into urchin-like microstructures featuring nanosized spines. The presence of the TPE moiety in the hydrogelator resulted in aggregation-induced emission characteristics both in the solution and in the gel phases. has the lowest molecular weight of any TPE-capped hydrogelator with β-sheet-like structures under physiological pH. This new design strategy appears to be useful for generating three-dimensional self-assembled microstructures and multifunctional biomaterials. We found that is biocompatible with human mesenchymal stem cells and breast cancer cells, making them potential applications in tissue engineering and biomedical research.
