Determination of the dynamic exchange kinetics of hydrophobically trapped cyclic peptide nanotubes

Cyclic peptides with alternating side chain stereochemistry are capable of self-assembling into long nanotubes (CPNTs). The conjugation of polymers to these peptides renders the resulting CPNTs water soluble, whilst providing functionality. CPNTs have promising applications as drug delivery vectors where controlled assembly and disassembly is required for tailoring drug release. In order to control the dynamic behaviour of CPNTs, we have designed and synthesised CPNTs conjugated to block copolymers with a central hydrophobic block to function as a kinetic trap. Here, we propose to use time-resolved SANS combined with isotopic contrast matching to determine the exchange kinetics of kinetically trapped peptides between hydrogenated and deuterated CPNTs. This will enable the design of CPNTs with controlled, tunable dynamics as drug delivery vectors.