화학공학소재연구정보센터
Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol.130, No.2, 586-591, 2008
Hierarchical self-assembly of aminopyrazole peptides into nanorosettes in water
Self-association of aminopyrazole peptide hybrid 1 leads to stacked nanorosettes. This remarkable, well-ordered structure obeys the laws of nucleic acid self-assembly. In a strictly hierarchical process, formation of aminopyrazole "base" triplets via a hydrogen bond network is accompanied by pi-stacking with a second rosette and final dimerization of two double rosettes to a four-layer superstructure, stabilized by a six-fold half-crown alkylammonium lock. The final complex is soluble in organic as well as in aqueous solution. It was characterized in the solid state by X-ray crystallography, in water by NMR spectroscopy, and in silico by quantum chemical shift calculation. All these methods provide strong evidence for the same hexameric complex geometry. Its structural features bear striking silimarity to nucleic acid architectures and their peptidic counterparts, especially alanyl-PNA. The whole self-assembly process is highly solvent- and temperature-dependent and occurs with a high degree of cooperativity-no intermediates are observed. Formation and dissociation of the nanorosette, however, are kinetically slow. The limitation to a hexameric aggregate can be explained by six sterically demanding valine residues, whose replacement by alanines may result in formation of infinite fibers.