Utilizing Fremy's Salt to Increase the Mechanical Rigidity of Supramolecular Peptide-Based Gel Networks.

ABSTRACT: Peptide-based supramolecular gels are an important class of biomaterials that can be used for biomedical applications ranging from drug delivery to tissue engineering. Methodology that allows one to readily modulate the mechanical properties of these gels will allow yet even a broader range of applications. Frémy's salt is an inorganic salt and long-lived free radical that is known to oxidize phenols. Herein, we show that Frémy's salt can be used to dramatically increase the mechanical rigidity of hydrogels formed by tyrosine-containing self-assembling β-hairpin peptides. When Frémy's salt is added to pre-formed gels, it converts tyrosine residues to o-quinones that can subsequently react with amines present within the lysine side chains of the assembled peptide. This results in the instal

SUBMITTER: Fichman G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7813677 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature