De novo design of self-assembly hydrogels based on Fmoc-diphenylalanine providing drug release

Short peptides with self-assembled nanostructures are widely applied in the areas of drug delivery systems and biomaterials. In this article, we create a new peptide-based hydrogelator (Fmoc-FFRRVR) based on N-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl-diphenylalanine (Fmoc-FF) through an approach to improve its hydrophilicity. Compared to Fmoc-FF, Fmoc-FFRRVR prefers to form a hydrogel under mild conditions, and the gelation time is only 2 s. Fmoc-FFRRVR self-assembles into organized arrays of beta-sheets in nanofibers via pi-stacking of Fmoc-FF, which are supported by circular dichroism and fluorescence emission spectroscopy. Rheology results confirm that the hydrogel of Fmoc-FFRRVR is elastic, reversible and injectable. The newly discovered hydrogel not only retains some excellent performances of Fmoc-FF, but also can be used as a drug carrier for biomedical applications.

Automated summary

This article introduces a new peptide-based hydrogelator Fmoc-FFRRVR, which is easier to form a hydrogel under mild conditions compared to the traditional Fmoc-FF, with a gelation time of only 2 seconds. Fmoc-FFRRVR self-assembles into organized arrays of beta-sheets in nanofibers, displaying elasticity, reversibility, and injectability, making it suitable for biomedical applications such as drug carriers.