Peptide amphiphiles (PAs) are small molecules that contain hydrophobic components covalently conjugated to peptides. In this Account, we describe recent advances involving PAs that consist of a short peptide sequence linked to an aliphatic tail. The peptide sequence can be designed to form β-sheets among the amino acids near the alkyl tail, while the residues farthest from the tail are charged to promote solubility and in some cases contain a bioactive sequence. In water, β-sheet formation and hydrophobic collapse of the aliphatic tails induce assembly of the molecules into supramolecular one-dimensional nanostructures, commonly high-aspect-ratio cylindrical or ribbonlike nanofibers. These nanostructures hold significant promise for biomedical functions due to their ability to display a high density of biological signals on their surface for targeting or to activate pathways, as well as for biocompatibility and biodegradable nature.

中文翻译：

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肽两亲物的超分子组装

肽两亲物（PAs）是包含共价结合到肽上的疏水成分的小分子。在此报告中，我们描述了PA的最新进展，其中PA包含与脂肪族尾部相连的短肽序列。可以设计肽序列以在烷基尾附近的氨基酸之间形成β-折叠，而距离尾最远的残基带有电荷以促进溶解性，在某些情况下还包含生物活性序列。在水中，β片层的形成和脂肪族尾部的疏水塌陷促使分子组装成超分子一维纳米结构，通常是高纵横比的圆柱形或带状纳米纤维。