Crosslinking self-assembled peptide amphiphiles (PA) were designed and synthesized for the purposes of enhancing the mechanical robustness of the PA material. The coumarin molecule was chosen as the covalent-linker for the self-assembled nanofiber due to its ability to undergo reversible crosslinking reactions. The crosslinking reaction in literature has been shown to be reversible using specific wavelengths of light. In the shown transmission electron microscope (TEM) examples, non-crosslinked PA nanofibers are observed in the left image. The TEM image on the right is the coumarin PA after crosslinking the PAs at 350 nm, resulting in a significant morphology change. These materials have potential bioapplications as light-responsive scaffolds or drug delivery materials.
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