Self-assemblies of triskelion A2B-type amphiphilic polypeptide showing pH-responsive morphology transformation

A pH-responsive rolled-sheet morphology was prepared from a triskelion A(2)B-type amphiphilic polypeptide having a histidine residue as a pH-responsive unit. The dimensions of the rolled sheet were 85 nm diameter and 210 nm length with a sheet turn number of 2.0 at pH 7.4. Upon decreasing the pH from 7.4 to 5.0, the layer spacing of the rolled sheets was widened from ca. 9 to ca. 19 nm due to electrostatic repulsion caused by histidine protonation. This morphology change occurred reversibly with a pH change between 7.4 and 5.0. The molecular packing in the rolled sheets was shown to be loosened at pH 5.0 on the basis of electron diffraction measurements. The tightness of the rolled sheets was thus controlled reversibly by a pH change due to a single protonation in the amphiphilic polypeptide.

Molecular assembly formation of cyclic hexa-β-peptide composed of acetylated glycosamino acids

A novel cyclic hexamer of acetylated beta-glycosamino acid was synthesized and its conformation and molecular assembly formation was investigated. Variable temperature NMR study indicated that the cyclic hexapeptide took a C(3) symmetric conformation at room temperature, but at elevated temperatures a C(6) symmetric one, which was not due to averaging of the C(3) symmetric conformation, appeared. Computational geometry optimization showed that the C(6) symmetric conformation was a highly planar structure with amide groups orienting perpendicular to the ring plane. The cyclic hexa-beta-peptide formed rod-shaped crystals from an N,N-dimethyl formamide solution at elevated temperature. The optical microscopy observation with a sensitive tint plate under cross-nicol configuration and electron diffraction analysis of the crystals revealed that the cyclic hexa-beta-peptides were stacked one after the other to form a regular nanotube structure.

Columnar Assembly of Cyclic β-Amino Acid Functionalized with Pyranose Rings

A novel cyclic trimer and tetramer of protected beta-glycamino acids were synthesized and investigated on conformation and assembly formation. A characteristic point of these cyclic beta-glycamino acids is their better solubility than other cyclic beta-amino acids due to the pyranose rings. Thus, the assembling process of the cyclic molecules could be examined by CD or NMR spectroscopy. FT-IR and NMR measurements and geometry optimization revealed a highly symmetric and planar conformation for each cyclic beta-peptide with all-trans amide groups. The amide groups in the cyclic peptides took a vertical orientation against the cyclic skeleton to be suitably arranged for intermolecular hydrogen bonds, which should promote formation of molecular assembly in a columnar structure through molecular stacking. These cyclic beta-peptides were successfully crystallized to yield rod-shaped molecular assemblies in nanometer sizes. Evidence for the columnar structure in the crystals was obtained by electron diffraction analysis, which showed a layer spacing of ca. 4.8 A. Interestingly, the molecular assembly of the cyclic trimer showed a high aspect ratio, width less than 40 nm, and length more than 2 mum, suggesting stable molecular stacking in the column.

Helix Triangle: Unique Peptide-Based Molecular Architecture

We here report a unique cyclic peptide structure, "helix triangle", as a unique example of peptide-based molecular architecture. The cyclic peptide is designed to have a triangular shape in which three 9mer helical peptide units make the sides and three pyrene derivatives make the apexes. The helical peptide units are ideally linear, and the pyrene units are ideal 60 degrees angular components. The yield of the cyclic peptide was relatively high despite its large cycle size. Absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy revealed that the three pyrene units do not interact with each other electronically, and circular dichroism spectroscopy indicated that the helical peptide units take 3(10)-helical conformation. Geometry optimization by the semi-empirical molecular orbital method gave a triangular structure with 3(10)-helices as the plausible molecular structure. To gain more information on the geometry and demonstrate one example of its self-assemblies, the monolayer of the cyclic peptide was prepared at the air/water interface, and its surface pressure-molecular area isotherm was studied. The isotherm indicated formation of a stable monolayer and suggested that the cyclic peptide actually takes the triangular structure predicted by the geometry optimization. The monolayer was then transferred onto a substrate and characterized by various methods. Ellipsometry and infrared reflection-absorption spectroscopy confirmed that the cyclic peptide has horizontal orientation to the surface in the monolayer. Furthermore, absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy showed that the isolated electronic properties of the pyrene units are intact even in a condensed state in the monolayer.