Thermoresponsive self-assembly of short elastin-like polypentapeptides and their poly(ethylene glycol) derivatives.
Short polypeptides with four pentad repeats, (VPGVG)(4) and (VPAVG)(4), were synthesised by manual fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl/tert-butyl (Fmoc/t-Bu) solid phase peptide synthesis using a convergent approach. In the next step, the peptides were coupled via their N-terminus with activated semi-telechelic poly(ethylene glycol) O-(N-Fmoc-2-aminoethyl)-O'-(2-carboxyethyl)undeca(ethylene glycol) (Fmoc-PEG-COOH) to yield monodisperse Fmoc-PEG-peptide diblock copolymer. Both the presence of the terminal hydrophobic Fmoc group and the hydrophilic PEG chain in the copolymers were shown to play a crucial role in their self-associative behaviour, leading to reversible formation of supramolecular thermoresponsive assemblies. The peptides and their PEG derivatives were characterised by HPLC, NMR and MALDI-TOF MS. The associative behaviour of the peptides and their PEG derivatives was studied by dynamic light scattering, MAS NMR and phase contrast microscopy. [image: see text]
Pechar
Michal
M
Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, Academy of Sciences of Czech Republic, 162 06 Prague 6, Czech Republic. pechar@imc.cas.cz
Brus
Jirí
J
Kostka
Libor
L
Konák
Cestmír
C
Urbanová
Martina
M
Slouf
Miroslav
M
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D004549:Elastin / Q000737:chemistry*; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D008858:Microscopy, Phase-Contrast; D008958:Models, Molecular; D009842:Oligopeptides / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry*; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols / Q000737:chemistry*; D011487:Protein Conformation; D012542:Scattering, Radiation; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization; D013816:Thermodynamics
D009842:Oligopeptides; D010455:Peptides; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols; D004549:Elastin