In chemically fueled self-assembly, a reaction cycle activates and deactivates molecules for self-assembly. The resulting assembly is dynamic and should be endowed with unique behavior in this kinetically controlled regime. Recent works have mainly focused on design rules for the activation of molecules for self-assembly, thereby assuming that disassembly upon deactivation inherently follows. However, that is not always the case. This work shows a family of peptides that assemble into colloids regulated through a chemical reaction cycle. Despite their similarity in assembly, we find that they follow a different disassembly pathway upon deactivation. The colloids from several peptides completely disassemble as fuel depletes while others transition into fibers. Our findings demonstrate that assembly and disassembly should be taken into account in chemically fueled self-assembly.

中文翻译：

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化学燃料自组装的形态转变

在化学燃料自组装中，反应循环激活和失活分子以进行自组装。由此产生的组件是动态的，应该在这个动力学控制机制中具有独特的行为。最近的工作主要集中在分子自组装激活的设计规则上，从而假设在失活时分解是固有的。然而，情况并非总是如此。这项工作展示了一个肽家族，它们组装成通过化学反应循环调节的胶体。尽管它们在组装方面相似，但我们发现它们在失活时遵循不同的拆卸途径。当燃料耗尽时，来自几种肽的胶体完全分解，而另一些则转变为纤维。