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Updated: Feb 9, 2026

Facile Protocol for the Synthesis of Self-assembling Polyamine-based Peptide Amphiphiles PPAs and Related Biomaterials
Published on: June 25, 2018
An addressable packing parameter approach for reversibly tuning the assembly of oligo(aniline)-based
Wei Lyu1,2, Maha Alotaibi1,3, O Alexander Bell1
1School of Chemistry , University of Bristol , Bristol , BS8 1TS , UK .
Abstract:
We present a newly developed approach to non-covalently address the packing parameter of an electroactive amphiphile. The pH-responsive reversible switching of a tetra(aniline)-based cationic amphiphile, TANI-pentyl trimethylammonium bromide (TANI-PTAB), between self-assembled vesicles and nanowires by acid/base chemistry in aqueous solution is used to exemplify this approach. Trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) was selected as a prototypical acid to form emeraldine salt (ES) state (TANI(TFA)) vesicles for this new class of small-molecule supramolecular amphiphiles. UV-vis-NIR spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), tapping-mode atomic force microscopy (AFM), and fluorescence spectroscopy were used to investigate the reversible structural transformation from vesicles to nanowires. We show that utilising different protonic acid-dopants for TANI-PTAB can regulate the packing parameter, and thus the final self-assembled structures, in a predictable fashion. We envisage potential application of this concept as smart and switchable delivery systems.
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