Self-Assembly of Peptides and its Applications: A Review

Molecular self-assembly is the spontaneous aggregation of molecules or macromolecules into supramolecular structures with non-covalent interactions. This phenomenon is an interdisciplinary research topic that has a lot of potential applications in various fields. One of the main driving forces of molecular self-assembly is the existence of molecular amphiphilicity in the system which can cause microphase separation and create complex and stable nanostructures. Self-assembling peptides are one of the most important classes of molecules with the ability to self-assemble. The rich self-assembly behavior is observed in systems of peptides, due to the simultaneous presence of different interactions (such as electrostatic interaction, hydrophobicity and hydrogen bond) in systems consisting of them and the diversity of their molecular configuration. Better understanding of peptides self-assembly enables the better design of peptides to form functional nanostructures. In this review article, at first, peptide self-assembly and its importance are stated. Then, some examples of self-assembling peptides which have attracted the interest of scientists for various reasons, such as cyclic peptides, amphiphilic peptides, ionic complementary peptides and some other examples, are explained. Also, some important applications and benefits of peptides self-assembly, which include nanoscale construction, tissue engineering, drug delivery, applications in biosensors, and the study of conformational diseases, are reviewed.