Recent advances in the solution self‐assembly of polypeptides

Abstract

Polypeptides derived from amino acids bridge the synthetic polymers and proteins, and they have attracted continuous attention on their properties and functionalities. In the past decades, the self‐assembly behavior of polypeptides has been widely studied, and diversities of assembly nanostructures have been observed. In this perspective, we focus on the recent advances in the solution self‐assembly of polypeptides from two aspects. One is new type driving forces for the polypeptide self‐assembly, including liquid crystallization of polypeptides and conformation variation of helical polypeptides. Another is novel preparation methods for the polypeptide self‐assembly, including supramolecular polymerization, substrate‐mediated self‐assembly, and polymerization‐induced self‐assembly (PISA). In the end, we give a conclusion and outlook for the trends in the polypeptide solution self‐assembly.

Regulating the Chirality of the Superhelices Self-Assembled from Block Copolymer/Homopolymer Binary Systems by the Mixing Ratio of the Polymers

“…PBLG is a hydrophobic rigid polymer, its backbone usually takes a right-handed α-helix conformation. − PEG is a typical hydrophilic polymer, which can dissolve well in water. The critical water content (CWC) of PBLG homopolymers is much lower than that of PBLG- b -PEG BCPs, indicating that PBLG homopolymers have a stronger assembling tendency in water.…”

Aqueous Circularly Polarized Luminescence Induced by Homopolypeptide Self-Assembly

“…Aqueous dispersed aggregates with well-defined tunable nanostructures, formed through self-assembly of polypeptides, have drawn significant attention due to their intrinsic biodegradability, environmental compatibility, and applicability in the biomedical field. − The versatility of polypeptides, in conjunction with their chirality and ability to form conformationally stable and regular secondary structures (helices, sheets, turns), provides a unique platform for designing nanomaterials with controllable structural features. ,− Recently, Du and co-workers discovered that selective solvents can impose a huge impact on the morphology of the homopolypeptide-based self-assembly from the nanotoroid to the nanorod. , Through the co-assembly of polypeptide mixtures, Lin and co-workers constructed superhelices with adjustable chirality regulated by the chiral homopolypeptides and copolypeptides. , Given the chiral structure of most polypeptides, it is of great significance to endow unique optical properties beyond their novel assembly structures, which can endow the biodegradable nanomaterials with certain photophysical activities to enable them to be applied in environmentally friendly optoelectronic devices and in biomedical fields. Despite the increasing enthusiasm for designing novel nanomaterials by polypeptide self-assembly, research on their optical properties as well as nanostructure–property relationships has been rarely reported.…”