Self-assembly of highly ordered peptide amphiphile metalloporphyrin arrays.

Long fibers assembled from peptide amphiphiles capable of binding the metalloporphyrin zinc protoporphyrin IX ((PPIX)Zn) have been synthesized. Rational peptide design was employed to generate a peptide, c16-AHL(3)K(3)-CO(2)H, capable of forming a β-sheet structure that propagates into larger fibrous structures. A porphyrin-binding site, a single histidine, was engineered into the peptide sequence in order to bind (PPIX)Zn to provide photophysical functionality.