title: Ln3+-Mediated Self-Assembly of a Collagen Peptide into Luminescent Banded Helical Nanoropes.
abstract: Design of biomimetic peptides to achieve the desired properties of natural collagen has much potential to build functional biomaterials. A collagen-peptide/Ln3+system has been constructed and self-assembled to form helical nanoropes with a distinct periodic banding pattern characteristic of natural collagen. The fully reversible self-assembly is specifically mediated by lanthanide ions, but not by other commonly used divalent metal ions. Lanthanide ions not only provide an external biocompatible stimulus of the assembly, but also play as a functional unit to endow the assembled materials with easily tunable photoluminescence. To our knowledge, this is the first report of collagen-peptide-based materials with exquisite nanorope structure and excellent photoluminescent features. These novel luminescent nanomaterials may have great potential in cell imaging, medical diagnostics, and luminescent scaffolds for cell cultivation.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Nonferrous Metal Chemistry and Resources Utilization of Gansu Province, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Manman
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Nonferrous Metal Chemistry and Resources Utilization of Gansu Province, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Lang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Nonferrous Metal Chemistry and Resources Utilization of Gansu Province, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Nonferrous Metal Chemistry and Resources Utilization of Gansu Province, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, P.R. China. xiaojx@lzu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Jianxi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xiao
keywords: collagen; lanthanide ions; luminescent; self-assembly; triple helix