Oligo and polypeptides demonstrate remarkable self-assembly properties leading to functional materials (such as spider silks) or debilitating diseases (such as amyloid plaques).  The mechanisms behind these orthogonal ends are fairly well established for natural peptide components.  This contribution will describe recent challenges to the oligopeptide assembly concept through the defined introduction of quadrupolar influences brought systematically into oligopeptide molecules by pi-conjugated oligomeric structures.  These pi-electron systems are prototypical of the field of organic electronics, consisting of fluorophores, dyes, and semiconductive elements.  The oligopeptide segments self-associate and at the same time help to enforce electronic delocalization among the pi-conjugated units, thus creating a �supramolecular polymer� with both biological and electronic function.

Supramolecular conjugated polymers: Using peptide assembly to organize pi-electrons

248th National Meeting (2014)

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