Self-assembled peptide-based nanostructures have been the focus of research in the past decade because of their potential applications in various biological systems. Normally, small self-assembled peptide nanostructures contain hydrophobic moieties, therefore, their solubility in aqueous systems poses the important challenge in the field of molecular self-assembly in order to make effective use of these in a wide variety of applications. To improve their aqueous solubility, the self-assembled amphiphilic α,β-dehydrophenylalanine containing small glyco-dehydropeptides, Boc-Phe-ΔPhe-εAhx-GA (I) and H-Phe-ΔPhe-εAhx-GA (II) with glucosamine (GA) attached at the C-terminal through a 6-aminocaproic acid linker, were synthesized, demonstrating the formation of nanostructures in aqueous media, which were characterized by DLS, AFM and TEM. Further, nanostructure II reduced auric chloride to gold nanoparticles and formed a peptide–gold conjugate (VII). The feasibility of using the nanostructures I and II as nanovectors for drug delivery was demonstrated by loading hydrophobic molecules, eosin and N-fluoresceinyl-2-aminoethanol (FAE) dyes. Besides, these peptides displayed antimicrobial activity against Micrococcus flavus, Bacillus subtilis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. All these results advocate the potential of these nanostructures as efficient vectors for drug delivery applications.
自组装肽基纳米结构在过去十年中一直是研究的重点,因为它们在各种
生物系统中具有潜在的应用价值。通常,小型自组装肽纳米结构含有疏
水基团,因此,为了在广泛的多种应用中有效利用它们,其在
水溶液系统中的溶解性成为分子自组装领域面临的重要挑战。为了提高它们的
水溶性,合成了包含较小糖脱氢肽的自组装两亲性α,β-脱氢苯丙
氨酸,即通过
6-氨基己酸连接子在C末端连接
葡糖胺的Boc-Phe-ΔPhe-εAhx-GA(I)和H-Phe-ΔPhe-εAhx-GA(II),展示了在
水介质中形成纳米结构的能力,并通过DLS、A
FM和
TEM进行了表征。此外,纳米结构II将
氯金酸还原为
金纳米颗粒,并形成了肽-
金缀合物(VII)。通过载入疏
水性分子
曙红和N-
荧光素基-2-
氨基
乙醇(FAE)
染料,展示了纳米结构I和II作为药物递送纳米载体的可能性。此外,这些肽对黄曲霉微球菌、
枯草芽孢杆菌和
铜绿假单胞菌显示出抗菌活性。所有这些结果都主张这些纳米结构作为有效药物递送载体的潜在应用。