The combination of supramolecular aggregation of collagen model peptides with reversible covalent end-capping of the formed triple helix in a single experimental set-up yielded minicollagens, which were characterized by a single melting temperature. In spite of the numerous possible reaction intermediates, a specific synthetic collagen with a leading, middle and trailing strand is formed in a highly cooperative self-assembly process.
Keywords: NMR spectroscopy; collagen model peptides; end-capping; supramolecular assembly.
© 2019 The Authors. Published by Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.