Molecular self-assembly of peptide bolaamphiphiles and their applications in nanocatalysis and biology

Abstract

Bolaamphiphiles are an interesting class of amphiphilic molecules, which can self-assemble to form well-defined nanostructures in aqueous solutions. Generally, two hydrophilic end groups are covalently attached with a hydrophobic spacer in a bolaamphiphile molecule. Low molecular weight self-assembled soft nanostructured materials draw great attraction for wide range of applications in the fields of nanoscience, bioscience and supramolecular electronics. Despite this potential, stimuli responsive self-assembled peptide bolaamphiphilic materials have yet to be fully established for tissue regeneration strategies associated with their cytotoxicity and stem cell proliferation and the ethical considerations surrounding their usage. Furthermore, there is wide interest to develop novel self-assembled nanostructural architectures for the fabrication of metal nanoparticles and their applications in chemical reactions. The main objectives of present study are: (a) Incorporation of a flexible alkane chain in order to achieve different structures due to conformational heterogeneity in bolaamphiphiles. (b) To control molecular self-assembly of peptide bolaamphiphiles with the help of external stimuli. (c) To study nanostructural transition of a peptide bolaamphiphile driven by molecular self-assembly. (d) Utilization of nanostructural soft materials in the field of nanocatalysis. (e) Exploration of lipase catalysed inclusion of gastrodigenin p-hydroxybenzyl alcohol with peptide bolaamphiphiles to mimic with a natural dissipative system. (f) To investigate dose dependent cytotoxicity and cell proliferation behaviour of self-assembled peptide bolaamphiphiles based hydrogel scaffold.