Controlling the network type in self-assembled dipeptide hydrogels

Catherine Colquhoun; Emily R. Draper; Ralf Schweins; Marco Marcello; Devkee Vadukul; Louise C. Serpell; Dave J. Adams

doi:10.1039/C6SM02666D

Controlling the network type in self-assembled dipeptide hydrogels†

Catherine Colquhoun,^a Emily R. Draper,^b Ralf Schweins,^c Marco Marcello,^d Devkee Vadukul,^e Louise C. Serpell^e and Dave J. Adams

*^b

Author affiliations

* Corresponding authors

^a Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering – School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

^b School of Chemistry, Joseph Black Building, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, UK
E-mail: dave.adams@glasgow.ac.uk

^c Institut Laue-Langevin, Large Scale Structures Group, 71 Avenue des Martyrs, CS 20156, F-38042 Grenoble CEDEX 9, France

^d Institute of Integrative Biology, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK

^e School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Falmer, UK

Abstract

We show that the same low molecular weight gelator can form gels using three different methods. Gels were formed from a high pH solution either by adding a salt or by adding an acid; gels were also formed by adding water to a solution of the gelator in an organic solvent. The mechanical properties for the gels formed by the different methods are different from one another. We link this to the network type that is formed, as well as the fibrous structures that are formed. The salt-triggered gels show a significant number of fibres that tend to align. The acid-triggered gels contain many thin fibres, which form an entangled network. The solvent-triggered gels show the presence of spherulitic domains. We show that it is tractable to vary the trigger mechanism for an established, robust gelator to prepare gels with targeted properties as opposed to synthesising new gelators.

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Article information

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/C6SM02666D
Article type: Paper
Submitted: 28 Nov 2016
Accepted: 31 Jan 2017
First published: 31 Jan 2017
This article is Open Access

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Soft Matter, 2017,13, 1914-1919

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Controlling the network type in self-assembled dipeptide hydrogels

C. Colquhoun, E. R. Draper, R. Schweins, M. Marcello, D. Vadukul, L. C. Serpell and D. J. Adams, Soft Matter, 2017, 13, 1914 DOI: 10.1039/C6SM02666D

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

Soft Matter

Controlling the network type in self-assembled dipeptide hydrogels†

Abstract

Supplementary files

Article information

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Controlling the network type in self-assembled dipeptide hydrogels

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