Rationally Designed Bioinspired δ-Amino Valeric Acid Based Hydrogel: One Shot Solution for Drug Delivery and Effluent Management

Tailoring peptide hydrogelators with tunable mechanical properties and diversified applicabilities is an eternal pursuit today. Here, we report the rational design approach of a short, simple enantiomeric segment, Boc-δ-Ava-L-Phe-OH (Hydrogelator I) Boc-δ-Ava-D-Phe-OH (Hydrogelator II) that manifests β-sheet conformation and nanofibrous morphology at supramolecular level. Our hydrogelators have excellent biocompatibility, proteolytic stability, thermoreversibility and self-healing properties. Remarkably, these Hydrogelators not only demonstrate an unprecedented ability to release the anticancer drugs 5-Fluoro uracil/curcumin/Doxorubicin at physiological pH and room temperature but also modulates an effective route in successful removal of harmful organic effluents from waste water, with the aptitude to reuse the hydrogelator few times. Interestingly it has been investigated that subtle changes in molecular structure of the gelator, turns the gelator into a nongelator molecule (Boc-Gaba-L-Phe-OHCompound III) and (Boc-Acp-L-Phe-OHCompound IV) supported by MD simulation studies. Overall this study establishes innovative design principles towards the development of advanced functional materials for future drug delivery applications and waste water management.