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  • Metal ions modulation of th...
    Fu, Wenjiao; Farhadi Sabet, Zeinab; Liu, Jiaming; You, Min; Zhou, Huige; Wang, Yaling; Gao, Yuan; Li, Jiayang; Ma, Xiaomei; Chen, Chunying

    Nanoscale, 04/2020, Volume: 12, Issue: 14
    Journal Article

    Metal ions are essential components that help maintain the processes of normal life, and they can be used to fabricate self-assembled building blocks for peptide derivatives, proteins and nucleic acids. Here, we have developed a novel strategy to construct supramolecular hydrogels modulated using metal cations. Upon introducing a variety of metal ions into aqueous solutions of a gelator (naproxen-FF), including a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) and dipeptide, we obtain stable hydrogels under neutral or alkaline conditions. It is found that these hydrogels with three-dimensional nanofiber networks exhibit excellent mechanical properties and thixotropy, as well as superb responsivity to multiple metal ions. Due to the significance of potassium ions in biological processes, the K-triggered hydrogel has been chosen as a model, and its self-assembly mechanism has been explored via various spectral analysis processes. In addition, the self-assembly performances of peptides are significantly affected by the chemical structures of the gelator molecules. This work provides deep insight into the aggregation mechanism of dipeptide-conjugating drug molecules through introducing a variety of metal ions, laying the foundation for further biological applications. Naproxen-FF shows superb responsiveness to multiple metal ions and its assembly capacity is obviously improved due to its methoxy group.