Differently N‐Capped Analogues of Fmoc‐FF
Carlo Diaferia, Elisabetta Rosa, Enrico Gallo, Giancarlo Morelli, Antonella Accardo
Abstract
Abstract Short and ultra‐short peptides have been recently envisioned as excellent building blocks for the formulation of hydrogels with appealing properties. Due to its simplicity and capability to gel under physiological conditions, Fmoc‐FF (N α ‐fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl‐diphenylalanine), remains one of the most studied low molecular‐weight hydrogelators. Since its first identification in 2006, a plethora of its analogues were synthetized and investigated for the fabrication of novel supramolecular materials. Here we report a description of the Fmoc‐FF analogues in which the aromatic Fmoc group is replaced with other substituents. These analogues are distinguished into five different classes including derivatives: i) customized with solid phase peptide synthesis protecting groups; ii) containing non‐aromatic groups, iii) containing aromatic groups, iv) derivatized with metal complexes and v) containing stimuli‐responsive groups. The morphological, mechanical, and functional effects caused by this modification on the resulting material are also pointed out.