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Updated: Feb 6, 2026

Synthesis of an Intein-mediated Artificial Protein Hydrogel
Published on: January 27, 2014
A supramolecular hydrogel prepared from a thymine-containing artificial nucleolipid: study of assembly and lyotropic
Dawei Zhang1, Qingkun Liu, Rayshan Visvanathan
1Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, UCB 596, Colorado 80309, USA. christopher.bowman@colorado.edu.
Abstract:
An artificial nucleolipid containing thymine, a triazole-ring, and phosphatidylcholine (TTPC) moieties was prepared by copper catalyzed azide alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) under aqueous conditions. The resulting TTPC molecules assembled in situ into a fibrous aggregation. The study of the TTPC fiber assembly using XRD and NMR spectroscopy revealed that the formation of fibers was driven by the unique combination of the lipid and nucleobase moieties in the structure of TTPC. At a critical TTPC concentration, entanglement of the fibers resulted in the formation of a supramolecular hydrogel. Investigation of the lyotropic mesophases in the TTPC supramolecular hydrogel showed the presence of multiple phases including two liquid crystal phases (i.e., nematic and lamellar), which have a certain degree of structural order and are promising templates for constructing functional biomaterials.
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