Amphiphilic dendritic peptides: Synthesis and behavior as an organogelator and liquid crystal

Abstract

New amphiphilic dendritic peptides on dendritic polyaspartic acid were designed and synthesized. The organogel and liquid crystal properties of these amphiphilic dendritic peptides were fully studied by field-emission SEM, temperature dependent FT-IR, differential scanning calorimetry, polarization optical microscopy and X-ray diffraction experiments. Amphiphilic dendritic peptides G3 show good organogel properties with a minimum gelation concentration as low as 1 wt %. Furthermore, amphiphilic dendritic peptides G3 can form a hexagonal columnar liquid crystal assembly over a wide temperature range.