De novo designed amphiphilic and acidic β‐sheet peptides in the form of monolayers and fibril assemblies are used as templates for monitoring calcium phosphate nucleation. The regular arrangement of negatively charged aspartic acid residues in a solution supersaturated with respect to apatite induces the nucleation of amorphous calcium phosphate, which over time transforms into apatite (see figure). This study demonstrates the bottom‐to‐top design and synthesis of new mineralized‐peptide composite biomaterials.

There is growing interest in the design of molecules that undergo predictable self-assembly. Bioinspired oligomers with well-defined conformational propensities are attractive from this perspective, since they can be constructed from diverse building blocks, and self-assembly can be directed by the identities and sequence of the subunits. Here we describe the structure of monolayers formed at the air-water interface by amphiphilic α/β-peptides with 1:1 alternation of α- and β-amino acid residues along the backbone. Two of the α/β-peptides, one a dianion and the other a dication, were used to determine differences between self-assemblies of the net negatively and positively charged oligomers. Two additional α/β-peptides, both zwitterionic, were designed to favor assembly in a 1:1 molar ratio mixture with parallel orientation of neighboring strands. Monolayers formed by these α/β-peptides at the air-water interface were characterized by surface pressure-area isotherms, grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXD), atomic force microscopy and ATR-FTIR. GIXD data indicate that the α/β-peptide assemblies exhibited diffraction features similar to those of β-sheet-forming α-peptides. The diffraction data allowed the construction of a detailed model of an antiparallel α/β-peptide sheet with a unique pleated structure. One of the α/β-peptide assemblies displayed high stability, unparalleled among previously studied assemblies of α-peptides. ATR-FTIR data suggest that the 1:1 mixture of zwitterionic α/β-peptides assembled in a parallel arrangement resembling that of a typical parallel β-sheet secondary structure formed by α-peptides. This study establishes guidelines for design of amphiphilic α/β-peptides that assemble in a predictable manner at an air-water interface, with control of interstrand orientation through manipulation of Coulombic interactions along the backbone.

Calcium-phosphate mineralization was monitored in systems composed of designed amphiphilic and acidic β-sheet-forming peptides, namely Pro-Phe-(Asp-Phe)(5)-Pro (PFD-5), Pro-Phe-(Glu-Phe)(5)-Pro (PFE-5) and Pro-Glu-(Phe-PSer)(4)-Phe-Glu-Pro (PPS). The three peptides differ solely in terms of their hydrophilic amino acids and therefore, serve as good model for assessment of the effect of the anionic amino acid type on mineralization within the context of the β-sheet structure. Monolayers of the peptides were deposited over simulated body solution (SBF(1.5)), and the effect of the adsorbing minerals over time was detected by Langmuir isotherm measurements, grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXD) and Brewster angle microscopy (BAM). The results provide insight into mineralized film morphology and peptide lattice behavior during mineralization. The rigidity of the peptide template, along with the type of amino acid side chain, were found to significantly affect mineralization morphology and peptide structure. The results will contribute to a better understanding of calcium-phosphate mineralization in nature and in the context of biomaterials for applications in bone tissue regeneration.