Simple Tyrosine Derivatives Act as Low Molecular Weight Organogelators

Silver and Copper Nanoparticle-Loaded Self-Assembled Pseudo-Peptide Thiourea-Based Organic-Inorganic Hybrid Gel with Antibacterial and Superhydrophobic Properties for Antifouling Surfaces

The escalating threat of antimicrobial resistance has become a global health crisis. Therefore, there is a rising momentum in developing biomaterials with self-sanitizing capabilities and inherent antibacterial properties. Despite their promising antimicrobial properties, metal nanoparticles (MNPs) have several disadvantages, including increased toxicity as the particle size decreases, leading to oxidative stress and DNA damage that need consideration. One solution is surface functionalization with biocompatible organic ligands, which can improve nanoparticle dispersibility, reduce aggregation, and enable targeted delivery to microbial cells. The existing research predominantly concentrates on the advancement of peptide-based hydrogels for coating materials to prevent bacterial infection, with limited exploration of developing surface coatings using organogels. Herein, we have synthesized organogel-based coatings doped with MNPs that can offer superior hydrophobicity, oleophobicity, and high stability that are not easily achievable with hydrogels. The self-assembled gels displayed distinct morphologies, as revealed by scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. The cross-linked matrix helps in the controlled and sustained release of MNPs at the site of bacterial infection. The synthesized self-assembled gel@MNPs exhibited excellent antibacterial properties against harmful bacteria such as Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus and reduced bacterial viability up to 95% within 4 h. Cytotoxicity testing against metazoan cells demonstrated that the gels doped with MNPs were nontoxic (IC50 > 100 μM) to mammalian cells. Furthermore, in this study, we coated the organogel@MNPs on cotton fabric and tested it against Gram +ve and Gram -ve bacteria. Additionally, the developed cotton fabric exhibited superhydrophobic properties and developed a barrier that limits the interaction between bacteria and the surface, making it difficult for bacteria to adhere and colonize, which holds potential as a valuable resource for self-cleaning coatings.

Fluoride-Ion-Responsive Sol-Gel Transition in an L-Cysteine/AgNO3 System: Self-Assembly Peculiarities and Anticancer Activity

Supramolecular hydrogels based on low-molecular-weight compounds are a unique class of so-called "soft" materials, formed by weak non-covalent interactions between precursors at their millimolar concentrations. Due to the variety of structures that can be formed using different low-molecular-weight gelators, they are widely used in various fields of technology and medicine. In this study, we report for the first time an unusual self-assembly process of mixing a hydrosol obtained from L-cysteine and silver nitrate (cysteine-silver sol-CSS) with sodium halides. Modern instrumental techniques such as viscosimetry, UV spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering, zeta potential measurements, SEM and EDS identified that adding fluoride anions to CSS is able to form stable hydrogels of a thixotropic nature, while Cl-, Br- and I- lead to precipitation. The self-assembly process proceeds using a narrow concentration range of F-. An increase in the fluoride anion content in the system leads to a change in the gel network morphology from elongated structures to spherical ones. This fact is reflected in a decrease in the gel viscosity and a number of gel-sol-gel transition cycles. The mechanism of F-'s interaction with hydrosol includes the condensation of anions on the positive surface of the CSS nanoparticles, their binding via electrostatic forces and the formation of a resulting gel carcass. In vitro analysis showed that the hydrogels suppressed human squamous carcinoma cells at a micromolar sample concentration. The obtained soft gels could have potential applications against cutaneous malignancy and as carriers for fluoride anion and other bioactive substance delivery.

Understanding multicomponent low molecular weight gels from gelators to networks

BACKGROUND

The construction of gels from low molecular weight gelators (LMWG) has been extensively studied in the fields of bio-nanotechnology and other fields. However, the understanding gaps still prevent the prediction of LMWG from the full design of those gel systems. Gels with multicomponent become even more complicated because of the multiple interference effects coexist in the composite gel systems.

AIM OF REVIEW

This review emphasizes systems view on the understanding of multicomponent low molecular weight gels (MLMWGs), and summarizes recent progress on the construction of desired networks of MLMWGs, including self-sorting and co-assembly, as well as the challenges and approaches to understanding MLMWGs, with the hope that the opportunities from natural products and peptides can speed up the understanding process and close the gaps between the design and prediction of structures.

KEY SCIENTIFIC CONCEPTS OF REVIEW

This review is focused on three key concepts. Firstly, understanding the complicated multicomponent gels systems requires a systems perspective on MLMWGs. Secondly, several protocols can be applied to control self-sorting and co-assembly behaviors in those multicomponent gels system, including the certain complementary structures, chirality inducing and dynamic control. Thirdly, the discussion is anchored in challenges and strategies of understanding MLMWGs, and some examples are provided for the understanding of multicomponent gels constructed from small natural products and subtle designed short peptides.

Incorporation of PEG Diacrylates (PEGDA) Generates Hybrid Fmoc-FF Hydrogel Matrices

Generated by a hierarchical and multiscale self-assembling phenomenon, peptide-based hydrogels (HGs) are soft materials useful for a variety of applications. Short and ultra-short peptides are intriguing building blocks for hydrogel fabrication. These matrices can also be obtained by mixing low-molecular-weight peptides with other chemical entities (e.g., polymers, other peptides). The combination of two or more constituents opens the door to the development of hybrid systems with tunable mechanical properties and unexpected biofunctionalities or morphologies. For this scope, the formulation, the multiscale analysis, and the supramolecular characterization of novel hybrid peptide-polymer hydrogels are herein described. The proposed matrices contain the Fmoc-FF (N^α-fluorenylmethyloxycarbonyl diphenylalanine) hydrogelator at a concentration of 0.5 wt% (5.0 mg/mL) and a diacrylate α-/ω-substituted polyethylene-glycol derivative (PEGDA). Two PEGDA derivatives, PEGDA 1 and PEGDA2 (mean molecular weights of 575 and 250 Da, respectively), are mixed with Fmoc-FF at different ratios (Fmoc-FF/PEGDA at 1/1, 1/2, 1/5, 1/10 mol/mol). All the multicomponent hybrid peptide-polymer hydrogels are scrutinized with a large panel of analytical techniques (including proton relaxometry, FTIR, WAXS, rheometry, and scanning electronic microscopy). The matrices were found to be able to generate mechanical responses in the 2-8 kPa range, producing a panel of tunable materials with the same chemical composition. The release of a model drug (Naphthol Yellow S) is reported too. The tunable features, the different topologies, and the versatility of the proposed materials open the door to the development of tools for different applicative areas, including diagnostics, liquid biopsies and responsive materials. The incorporation of a diacrylate function also suggests the possible development of interpenetrating networks upon cross-linking reactions. All the collected data allow a mutual comparison between the different matrices, thus confirming the significance of the hybrid peptide/polymer-based methodology as a strategy for the design of innovative materials.

Synthesis and Self-assembly of Novel Nanofeather-like Fluorescent Alkyloxy-Containing Diphenyl Ether Organogelators

In this study, novel fluorescent low molecular-weight organogelators are derived from diphenyl ethers and substituted with para-alkoxy groups of different aliphatic chain lengths. The present research promotes the preparation of innovative nanofeather-like assemblies from the synthesized diphenyl ether-derived organogelators. The gelation performance of the prepared alkoxy-substituted diphenyl ethers was reported. The synthesis procedure was achieved by using a base-catalyzed reaction of hydroxyl-substituted diphenyl with various alcohols of different aliphatic chain lengths. The chemical structures of the synthesized diphenyl ether derivatives were studied by ¹H/¹³C NMR and infrared spectroscopy. Fluorescence and UV-vis absorption spectral analyses showed solvatochromism. The diphenyl ether derivatives with longer alkoxy terminal substituents showed enhanced thermoreversible gelation activity as compared to the diphenyl ether derivatives with shorter alkoxy terminal substituents. The morphological properties of the self-assembled diphenyl ethers were studied by transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy, which showed supramolecular architectures of highly ordered nanofeathers, enforced by van der Waals interactions and π-stacks. Depending on the length of the aliphatic tail, different morphologies were detected, including nanofeathers, nanofibers, and nanosheets. The antimicrobial and cytotoxic properties of the prepared diphenyl ether-derived organogelators were examined to confirm their possible use in various fields like drug delivery systems.

Dissipative Acid-Fueled Reprogrammable Supramolecular Materials

Smart materials reversibly changing properties in response to a stimuli are promising for a broad array of applications. In this article, we report the use of trichloroacetic acid (TCA) as fuel to create new types of time-controlled materials switching reversibly from a gel to a solution (gel-sol-gel cycle). Applying various neutral amines as organogelators, TCA addition induces amine protonation, switching the system to a solution, while TCA decarboxylation over time enables a return to the initial gel state. Consequently, the newly obtained materials possess interesting time-dependent properties applied in the generation of remoldable objects, as an erasing ink, as chiroptical switches, or for the generation of new types of electrical systems.

Multiresponsive hydrogels and organogels based on photocaged cysteine

Here we present the readily accessible amino acid 4,5-dimethoxy-2-nitrobenzyl-l-cysteine (DNC), as an ultra-low molecular weight gelator (MW = 316 g mol-1). Sonication of DNC in water or organic solvents as well as pH adjustment in water trigger gelation. A diverse set of stimuli (UV irradiation, oxidation, heat or pH change) induce a gel-sol transition. Moreover, the photo-triggered gel-sol transition was used to obtain a controlled cysteine release from the hydrogel.

Boron Effect on Sugar-Based Organogelators

The reaction of several alkylglucosides with phenyl boronic acid permitted easy access to a series of alkylglucoside phenyl boronate derivatives. This type of compound has structures similar to those of known benzylidene glucoside organogelators except for the presence of a boronate function in place of the acetal one. Low to very low concentrations of these amphiphilic molecules produced gelation of several organic solvents. The rheological properties of the corresponding soft materials characterized them as elastic solids. They were further characterized by SEM to obtain more information on their morphologies and by SAXS to determine the type of self-assembly involved within the gels. The sensitivity of the boronate function towards hydrolysis was also investigated. We demonstrated that a small amount of water (5 % v/v) was sufficient to disrupt the organogels leading to the original alkylglucoside and phenyl boronic acid; an important difference with the stable benzylidene-based organogelators. Such water-sensitive boronated organogelators could be suitable substances for the preparation of smart soft material for topical drug delivery.

Ultrashort Peptide Self-Assembly: Front-Runners to Transport Drug and Gene Cargos

The translational therapies to promote interaction between cell and signal come with stringent eligibility criteria. The chemically defined, hierarchically organized, and simpler yet blessed with robust intermolecular association, the peptides, are privileged to make the cut-off for sensing the cell-signal for biologics delivery and tissue engineering. The signature service and insoluble network formation of the peptide self-assemblies as hydrogels have drawn a spell of research activity among the scientists all around the globe in the past decades. The therapeutic peptide market players are anticipating promising growth opportunities due to the ample technological advancements in this field. The presence of the other organic moieties, enzyme substrates and well-established protecting groups like Fmoc and Boc etc., bring the best of both worlds. Since the large sequences of peptides severely limit the purification and their isolation, this article reviews the account of last 5 years' efforts on novel approaches for formulation and development of single molecule amino acids, ultra-short peptide self-assemblies (di- and tri- peptides only) and their derivatives as drug/gene carriers and tissue-engineering systems.