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Updated: Jan 22, 2026

Imaging Denatured Collagen Strands In vivo and Ex vivo via Photo-triggered Hybridization of Caged Collagen Mimetic Peptides
Published on: January 31, 2014
Covalent Capture of a Heterotrimeric Collagen Helix
I-Che Li1, Sarah A H Hulgan1, Douglas R Walker1
1Rice University Department of Chemistry , 6100 Main Street , Houston , Texas 77005 , United States.
Abstract:
Stabilizing the three-dimensional structure of supramolecular materials can be accomplished through covalent capture of the assembled system. The lysine-aspartate charge pairs designed to direct the self-assembly of a collagen triple helix were subsequently used to covalently capture the helix through proximity-directed amide bond formation using EDC/HOBT activation. The triple helix thus stabilized maintains its folded structure and can now be used for applications previously inaccessible due to problematic folding equilibria.
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