Water-regulated viscosity-plasticity phase transitions in a peptide self-assembled muscle-like hydrogel.

ABSTRACT: The self-assembly of small molecules through non-covalent interactions is an emerging and promising strategy for building dynamic, stable, and large-scale structures. One remaining challenge is making the non-covalent interactions occur in the ideal positions to generate strength comparable to that of covalent bonds. This work shows that small molecule YAWF can self-assemble into a liquid-crystal hydrogel (LCH), the mechanical properties of which could be controlled by water. LCH can be used to construct stable solid threads with a length of over 1 meter by applying an external force on 2 µL of gel solution followed by water-regulated crystallization. These solid threads can support 250 times their weight. Cryogenic electron microscopy (Cryo-EM) analysis unravels the three-dimensional stru

SUBMITTER: Fang Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11770121 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature