The tripeptide GHG as an unexpected hydrogelator triggered by imidazole deprotonation.

Hesser, Morgan; Thursch, Lavenia; Lewis, Todd; DiGuiseppi, David; Alvarez, Nicolas J; Schweitzer-Stenner, Reinhard · Soft Matter · 2020

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

The tripeptide glycyl-histidyl-glycine (GHG) self-assembles into long, crystalline fibrils forming a strong hydrogel (G'∼ 50 kPa) above a critical concentration of 40 mM upon the deprotonation of its imidazole group. Spectroscopic data reveal a mixture of helically twisted β-sheets and monomers to coexist in the gel phase.

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