Samuel Stupp, Ph.D.
McCormick
self-assembly, supramolecular, mechanical, G', hydrogel, peptide amphiphile
Third Floor, Feinberg Pavilion, Northwestern Memorial Hospital
For negatively charged, supramolecular nanofibers, it was found that gelation with oligo-lysines (Kn, n = 2…15) produced weak gels with G’ ~ n independent of [K] monomer concentration. We have also shown that the length of the gelator is inversely proportional to the stereotyped radius of nanofiber bundles formed by Kn gelation. In this work, we demonstrate a new method to control the mechanical properties of supramolecular hydrogels independent of cross-link density, pH or ionic concentration.