Gelation and topochemical polymerization of peptide dendrimers

Abstract

A new class of peptide-based dendrons and dendrimers is presented that display unique vesicle-driven organogelation. We demonstrate the crosslinking of diacetylene-based dendrimers in the gel state, producing strongly fluorescent polydiacetylenes. The crosslinked gels crafted from peptide dendrimers may find practical use in various applications, including as scaffold materials in tissue engineering and for drug delivery.