A Modular Approach to Multi-responsive Surfactant/peptide (SP) and Surfactant/peptide/nanoparticle (SPN) Hybrid Materials

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Self-assembly provides a unique means to fabricate novel materials with predictable and adjustable properties. Recently, assemblies that combine structure with function have attracted a great deal of interest for many potential applications.Here, we propose a flexible and simple approach towards new surfactant/peptide (SP) and surfactant/peptide/nanoparticle (SPN) hybrid materials with a defined structure and function. In short, we will combine ionic surfactants with oppositely charged peptides. In doing so, we can construct (supra)molecular building blocks that self-assemble in solution and in the solid state. The peptide responds to external triggers like pH, temperature, salt concentration, etc. If the surfactant contains a mesogen that responds to light, temperature, or pressure, we can fabricate multi-responsive SP hybrids where two or more electrostatically linked building units (surfactant and peptide) respond independently to two external triggers, for example light and pH. Furthermore, these SP hybrids can serve as matrices for the mineralization of inorganic nanoparticles. Mineralization yields SPN hybrids that in the solid state exhibit independent, externally triggered phase transitions and hence different solid-state structures and properties. Besides the interest in the basic science involved in these complex materials, SP and SPN hybrids could in the future for example find application in drug delivery, where two drugs can be released from the same entity, but where the release is triggered by two different external stimuli, for example pH (acidification of the surrounding body fluid) and temperature (fever). The proposed approach to SP and SPN hybrids offers a ¿combinatorial¿ and a ¿high-throughput¿-like approach to hierarchically ordered and functional materials that can be switched selectively with multiple external stimuli. The approach also offers a platform to systematically study the basic science behind structure formation and control in complex organic/inorganic materials with tunable properties for a variety of technologies.