Covalent Self-Assembly and One-Step Photocrosslinking of Tyrosine-Rich Oligopeptides to Form Diverse Nanostructures

We present covalently self-assembled peptide hollow nanocapsule and peptide lamella. These biomimetic dityrosine peptide nanostructures are synthesized by one-step photo-polymerization of a tyrosine-rich short peptide without the aid of a template. This simple approach offers direct synthesis of fluorescent peptide nanocages and free-standing thin films. The simple crosslinked peptide lamella films provide robust mechanical properties with an elastic modulus of approximately 30 GPa and a hardness of 740 MPa. These nanostructures also allow for the design of peptidosomes. The approach taken here represents a rare example of covalent self-assembly of short peptides into nano-objects, which may be useful as microcompartments and separation membranes.