Electronics made from biological materials are desirable for use in medical devices, biosensors, and soft robotics because they have properties inaccessible to current inorganic technologies. Here, a series of cationic peptides were developed to self-assemble with the anionic porphyrin meso-tetra(4-sulfonatophenyl)porphine (TPPS₄) into supramolecular light-harvesting wires known as J-aggregates were developed. In addition to quantifying the binding events between each peptide and TPPS₄, we found co-incubation with mixed peptides allowed TPPS₄ to bridge two different peptides at their terminal porphyrin-binding regions. The J-aggregates formed on macroscopic scale in near quantitative yield within ~3 h and readily interconverted with the soluble monomers upon cycling the pH; to our knowledge, this is the first report of a peptide-porphyrin system with such properties. This work has practical and conceptual relevance to the development of new bioelectronic materials.

中文翻译：

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阴离子卟啉内消旋四（4-磺酸基苯基）卟啉的肽辅助超分子聚合

由生物材料制成的电子产品非常适合用于医疗设备、生物传感器和软体机器人，因为它们具有当前无机技术无法获得的特性。在这里，开发了一系列阳离子肽与阴离子卟啉内消旋四（4-磺酸基苯基）卟啉（TPPS ₄）自组装成称为 J-聚集体的超分子光捕获线。除了量化每个肽与 TPPS ₄之间的结合事件外，我们还发现与混合肽共同孵育允许 TPPS ₄在其末端卟啉结合区域桥接两种不同的肽。J-聚集体在约 3 小时内以接近定量的产量在宏观尺度上形成，并且在循环 pH 值时很容易与可溶性单体相互转化；据我们所知，这是具有此类特性的肽-卟啉系统的首次报道。这项工作与新型生物电子材料的开发具有实际和概念上的相关性。