Small molecule peptides and their derivatives are an emerging class of supramolecular hydrogelators that have attracted rapidly growing interest in the fields of drug delivery and regenerative medicine due to their in...Small molecule peptides and their derivatives are an emerging class of supramolecular hydrogelators that have attracted rapidly growing interest in the fields of drug delivery and regenerative medicine due to their inherent biodegradability and biocompatibility, as well as versatility in molecular design and ease of synthesis. Built upon the directional, intermolecular interactions such as hydrogen bonding and π-π stacking, peptide-based molecular units can associate in aqueous solution into filamentous assemblies of various sizes and shapes. Under appropriate conditions, these filamentous assemblies can percolate into a 3D network with materials properties tailorable for specific biomedical applications. In this review, we survey the literature published over the past three years in the development of peptide-based hydrogelators for biomedical applications. We highlight several representative examples and center our discussion on the fundamentals of molecular design, assembly, and gelation conditions.展开更多
基金financially supported by the National Science Foundation(No.DMR 1255281)
文摘Small molecule peptides and their derivatives are an emerging class of supramolecular hydrogelators that have attracted rapidly growing interest in the fields of drug delivery and regenerative medicine due to their inherent biodegradability and biocompatibility, as well as versatility in molecular design and ease of synthesis. Built upon the directional, intermolecular interactions such as hydrogen bonding and π-π stacking, peptide-based molecular units can associate in aqueous solution into filamentous assemblies of various sizes and shapes. Under appropriate conditions, these filamentous assemblies can percolate into a 3D network with materials properties tailorable for specific biomedical applications. In this review, we survey the literature published over the past three years in the development of peptide-based hydrogelators for biomedical applications. We highlight several representative examples and center our discussion on the fundamentals of molecular design, assembly, and gelation conditions.
