Self-assembly of aromatic α-amino acids into amyloid inspired nano/micro scaled architects

•Well-ordered self-assembled architects of aromatic α-amino acids in varying solvents have been generated.•Ordered assemblies such as nano-fibrils, rods and sheets exhibited characteristic of amyloid.•Self-assembly was driven by forces such as π-π stacking, van der Waals and electrostatic interaction.

In the pursuit for design of novel bio inspired materials, aromatic α-amino acids (phenylalanine, tyrosine, tryptophan and histidine) have been investigated for the generation of well-ordered self-assembled architects such as fibrils, rods, ribbons and twisted nanosheets in varying solvent systems. These nano/micro scaled architects were thoroughly characterized using FE-SEM, confocal microscopy, optical microscopy, 1H NMR, FTIR, XRD and TGA. These self-assembled architects were histologically stained with Congo red and thioflavin T dyes for investigation of amyloid morphology which revealed that the deposited state of ordered assemblies exhibit specific characteristic of amyloid deposits. The self-assembly of aromatic amino acids was observed to be driven by non-covalent forces such as π-π stacking, van der Waals and electrostatic interaction.

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