title: Molecular recognition remolds the self-assembly of hydrogelators and increases the elasticity of the hydrogel by 10(6)-fold.
abstract: Addition of vancomycin (1, the receptor) to the supramolecular hydrogel of self-assembled pyrene-d-Ala-d-Ala (2, the ligand) increases the storage modulus of the hydrogel of 2 by about 106-fold. Rheology, microscopy, and spectroscopy investigations suggest that the two-dimensional polymers, formed by the ligand-receptor interaction between 1 and 2, and the self-dimerization of 1, are mainly responsible for the observed dramatic increase in elasticity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Zhimou
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: Hongwei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D040761:Biomimetic Materials / Q000737:chemistry; D004151:Dipeptides / Q000737:chemistry*; D004548:Elasticity; D020100:Hydrogels / Q000737:chemistry*; D008024:Ligands; D008958:Models, Molecular; D013237:Stereoisomerism; D014640:Vancomycin / Q000737:chemistry*; D014783:Viscosity
chemical_list: D004151:Dipeptides; D020100:Hydrogels; D008024:Ligands; C002956:alanylalanine; D014640:Vancomycin