| 초록 |
Small β-sheet peptides carrying laterally-grafted azobenzene units self-assemble into long fibers. With increasing concentration, the nanofibers are entangled with each other to form stable hydrogel. Notably, the gels are responsive to UV irradiation through a conformational transition of azobenzene moieties from trans to cis states. This conformational change enforces long nanofibers to break up into discrete spherical aggregates. This photo-responsive hydrogels are applied as a smart matrix for controlling the dye molecules release. We demonstrate that a delicate balance between electrostatic repulsion and hydrogen bonds plays a pivotal role in the photo-responsive gel-sol transition. Interestingly, the electrostatic repulsion has been introduce into peptide design for fabricate artifical toroid nanostructures, which is popularly observed in many β-barrel folds and the well-known green fluorescent protein family. |
