Issue 11, 2016

Modulating hierarchical self-assembly behavior of a peptide amphiphile/nonionic surfactant mixed system

Abstract

The self-assembly behavior of a nonionic surfactant (n-dodecyl tetraethylene monoether, C12E4) and a peptide amphiphile (PA, C16-GK-3) mixed system was investigated using a combination of microscopic, scattering and spectroscopic techniques, including transmission electron microscopy (TEM), field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), polarized optical microscopy (POM) observations, small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, circular dichroism (CD) and rheological measurements. The change of the contents of C16-GK-3 and C12E4 induced the transitions in the nanostructures and simultaneously led to changes in macroscopic properties, i.e., mixtures of C12E4 with C16-GK-3 can be hierarchically self-assembled into various helical nanofibers and then further assembled to dandelion-like and dendrite nanostructures by changing the content of C16-GK-3 and C12E4, which resulted in transitions from solution to two phase, sol and hydrogel states that were noted on increasing the concentration of C16-GK-3 at a fixed concentration of C12E4 or varying C12E4 concentration at a fixed concentration of C16-GK-3. On the basis of a series of characterizations, we proposed a possible mechanism of the self-assembly, for which the hydrogen bonding interaction between the headgroups of C16-GK-3 and between C16-GK-3 and C12E4, as well as hydrophobic interaction between the alkyl chains of C16-GK-3 and C12E4, were the main driving forces.

Graphical abstract: Modulating hierarchical self-assembly behavior of a peptide amphiphile/nonionic surfactant mixed system

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
30 Nov 2015
Accepted
02 Jan 2016
First published
06 Jan 2016

RSC Adv., 2016,6, 9186-9193

Author version available

Modulating hierarchical self-assembly behavior of a peptide amphiphile/nonionic surfactant mixed system

H. Zhang, M. Yu, A. Song, Y. Song, X. Xin, J. Shen and S. Yuan, RSC Adv., 2016, 6, 9186 DOI: 10.1039/C5RA25437J

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