Supramolecular Self-Assembly of Engineered Polyproline Helices

The ability to rationally design biomaterials to form
desired supramolecular
constructs presents an ever-growing research field, with many burgeoning
works within recent years providing exciting results; however, there
exists a broad expanse of promising avenues of research yet to be
investigated. As such we have set out to make use of the polyproline
helix as a rigid, tunable, and chiral ligand for the rational design
and synthesis of supramolecular constructs. In this investigation,
we show how an oligoproline tetramer can be specifically designed
and functionalized, allowing predictable tuning of supramolecular
interactions, to engineer the formation of supramolecular peptide
frameworks with varying properties and, consequently, laying the groundwork
for further studies utilizing the polyproline helix, with the ability
to design desired supramolecular structures containing these peptide
building blocks, having tunable structural features and functionalities.