Peptide nanotube composed of cyclic tetra-β-peptide having polydiacetylene.

A cyclic tetra-β-peptide composed of three β-alanine residues and a L-β-homolysine residue having 10,12-pentacosadiynoic amide at the side chain was synthesized. The cyclic tetra-β-peptide formed peptide nanotubes in CDCl(3) . The diacetylene units along the peptide nanotubes were polymerized by UV irradiation to obtain peptide nanotubes with polydiacetylene along the nanotube. TEM and AFM observations of the polymerized cyclic tetra-β-peptides confirmed that the peptide nanotube structure was preserved after polymerization.