High-Efficiency Fluorescence through Bioinspired Supramolecular Self-Assembly.

Yu Chen,Sigal Rencus-Lazar,Ehud Gazit,Linda J W Shimon,Zhibin Wang,Asuka A Orr,Antonella Ruggiero,Zhan’Ao Tan,Lee Schnaider,Kai Tao,Alicia Goodall,Inna Slutsky,Sharon Gilead,Phanourios Tamamis

doi:10.1021/acsnano.9b10024

Abstract

Peptide self-assembly has attracted extensive interest in the field of eco-friendly optoelectronics and bioimaging due to its inherent biocompatibility, intrinsic fluorescence, and flexible modulation. However, the practical application of such materials was hindered by the relatively low quantum yield of such assemblies. Here, inspired by the molecular structure of BFPms1, we explored the “self-assembly locking strategy” to design and manipulate the assembly of metal-stabilized cyclic(l-histidine-d-histidine) into peptide material with the high-fluorescence efficiency. We used this bioorganic material as an emissive layer in photo- and electroluminescent prototypes, demonstrating the feasibility of utilizing self-assembling peptides to fabricate a biointegrated microchip that incorporates eco-friendly and tailored optoelectronic properties. We further employed a “self-encapsulation” strategy for constructing an advanced nanocarrier with integrated in situ monitoring. The strategy of the supramolecular capture of functional components exemplifies the use of bioinspired organic chemistry to provide frontiers of smart materials, potentially allowing a better interface between sustainable optoelectronics and biomedical applications.

Highlights

Peptide self-assembly has attracted extensive interest in the field of eco-friendly optoelectronics and bioimaging due to its inherent biocompatibility, intrinsic fluorescence, and flexible modulation
Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) imaging confirmed the presence of nanoparticles with an average diameter of ∼30 nm (Figures 1c and S1) which is in agreement with dynamic light scattering (DLS) data (Figure S2)
We computationally investigated the self-assembly of the two systems, independently comprising CHH and Zn(NO3)2 (CHH−Zn)(NO3)[2] and CHH−ZnCl2, in isopropanol, using multiple explicit solvent molecular dynamics (MD) simulations in CHARMM.[44]

Summary

Introduction

Peptide self-assembly has attracted extensive interest in the field of eco-friendly optoelectronics and bioimaging due to its inherent biocompatibility, intrinsic fluorescence, and flexible modulation. As a natural ingredient of biological systems, selfassembling through extensive and directed hydrogen bonding, and aromatic interactions, are intriguing candidates for this purpose, prompting extensive efforts to utilize these properties toward developing next-generation functional biomaterials.[7−19] The most prominent example is diphenylalanine, a dipeptide initially identified as the smallest core recognition motif of β-amyloid, the amyloidogenic polypeptide associated with Alzheimer’s disease, which self-assembles into diverse nanostructures potentially useful in the biomedical field for biosensing.[20−22] the majority of intrinsically fluorescent peptides have low quantum yields and photostability, which severely hinders their practical applications and limits their potential as eco-friendly materials for optoelectronic devices and efficient bioimaging probes.[23]. Groups, can be used as models to mimic the coordination of metal ions in enzymes.[25−30] cyclic dipeptide is highly tunable due to hydrogen bonding capabilities of the skeleton and other noncovalent interactions that can be used to engineer artificial multifunctional scaffolds.[31,32]

Objectives

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Results

Conclusion