The effect of solvent choice on the gelation and final hydrogel properties of Fmoc–diphenylalanine

Abstract

Gels can be formed by dissolving Fmoc–diphenylalanine (Fmoc–PhePhe or FmocFF) in an organic solvent and adding water. We show here that the choice and amount of organic solvent allows the rheological properties of the gel to be tuned. The differences in properties arise from the microstructure of the fibre network formed. The organic solvent can then be removed post-gelation, without significant changes in the rheological properties. Gels formed using acetone are meta-stable and crystals of FmocFF suitable for X-ray diffraction can be collected from this gel