Self-Assembling Peptide Hydrogels: From Nanostructure to Functional Materials
A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Applied Chemistry".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 April 2022) | Viewed by 402
Special Issue Editors
Interests: supramolecular chemistry; self-assembling peptide hydrogels; molecular recognition; nanobiomaterials; fluorescent sensors; coordination chemistry
Interests: supramolecular chemistry; self-assembling peptide hydrogels; molecular recognition; nanobiomaterials; fluorescent sensors; coordination chemistry
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: peptide and protein crystallography; uncommon noncovalent interactions in peptide self-assembly; peptide crystal engineering; electron microscopy of nanomaterials
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Peptides are fundamental players in many biological processes because of their highly ordered and preorganized structures. Owing to their amphiphilic nature, peptides can spontaneously self-assemble in well-organized nanoarchitectures (e.g., nanoparticles, nanofibers, and nanotubes), exploiting the formation of multiple noncovalent interactions, including ionic, hydrophobic, hydrogen, and halogen bonding and p– p stacking. Self-assembling peptide (SAP) hydrogels are a class of soft materials typically composed of entangled three-dimensional (3D) networks of nanofibers, characterized by high water contents, microporous structures, and tunable mechanical stability. Through side-chain modification and backbone functionalization, SAP hydrogels can be easily decorated to realize specific functional materials. Moreover, owing to their inherent biological origins, peptide-based hydrogels are characterized by outstanding bioactivity, biocompatibility, and biodegradability, making them promising candidates in a plethora of challenging applications.
This Special Issue will cover both fundamental and applied aspects of self-assembling peptide (SAP) hydrogels, including novel synthetic strategies, structural characterization, functional properties, and stimulus responsiveness. Particular attention will be devoted to their use in different fields, including biomedical applications, catalytic/photocatalytic conversion, and chiroptical purposes.Dr. Greta Bergamaschi
Dr. Alessandro Gori
Dr. Andrea Pizzi
Guest Editors
Keywords
- self-assembling peptide hydrogels
- peptide-based hybrid hydrogels.
- peptide-based functional materials
- bioinspired self-assembling peptide hydrogel
- hydrogel for biosensing and bioassay
- chiral functional materials
- stimuli-responsive self-assembling peptide hydrogels
- non-natural aminoacids for new peptides functionalities
