Chemical catalysis triggered self-assembly for the bottom-up fabrication of peptide nanofibers and hydrogels

A novel concept was developed to prepare peptide nanofibers and hydrogels via chemical catalysis triggered self-assembly using amino acid and its N -fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl (Fmoc)-derivatives as the starting materials. In this concept, EDC/NHSS was chosen as the catalyst to activate the substrate and synthesize the peptides to initiate the self-assembly. Two stable and transparent peptide (Fmoc-FF and Fmoc-VF) hydrogels that consist of self-assembled nanofibers were prepared successfully. Our results provided a potential route for the efficient and large-scale production of peptide-based nanomaterials .