Journal
CHEMISTRY OF MATERIALS
Volume 32, Issue 3, Pages 1153-1161Publisher
AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemmater.9b04160
Keywords
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Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [21404062, 21805317, 21604044]
- Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province [LY20B040003]
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Modulation of the secondary structures of peptides gives rise to a range of natural peptide-based soft materials with outstanding mechanical properties. Here, we discuss detailed insights on how the secondary structure of tailor-made polypeptides governs the mechanical properties of polymeric hydrogels. To this end, we developed a series of polymeric hydrogels cross-linked by poly(3-propyl-acrylate-glutamine) with tailorable secondary structures-alpha-helices and random coils. Interestingly, the hydrogels cross-linked by the alpha-helical cross-linker exhibit a high tensile strength and toughness because of the cooperative intramolecular hydrogen bonding along the polypeptide backbone. Furthermore, the alpha-helices endow the hydrogels with high resilience and rapid recovery because of their reversible cooperative hydrogen bonding. In contrast, the hydrogels cross-linked by the random coil cross-linker show inferior tensile strength and toughness. Our study establishes quantitative nanoscale/macroscale structure property relationships in polymeric hydrogels and has important implications for the rational design of soft materials using polypeptides with a specific secondary structure.
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