Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences have unveiled a groundbreaking biodegradable glass made from cyclic peptides, which holds promise for revolutionizing pharmaceutical formulations and smart materials.
In a groundbreaking achievement, researchers from the Institute of Process Engineering (IPE) at the Chinese Academy of Sciences have developed a sustainable, biodegradable material known as high-entropy non-covalent cyclic peptide (HECP) glass. This pioneering invention, unveiled in a study published in Nature Nanotechnology, could significantly influence pharmaceutical formulations and the development of smart functional materials.
Glass materials have been crucial to both technological and cultural advancements owing to their optical clarity and chemical stability. However, traditional glass relies on strong ionic and covalent bonds, leading to issues such as toxicity, resource depletion and environmental persistence. The new HECP glass, however, prioritizes biodegradability, biorecyclability and sustainability, answering a crucial need for next-generation materials.
The research team, led by Yan Xuehai, a professor of chemistry at IPE, has developed HECP glass using amino acid and peptide components, marking a substantial shift from conventional glass and plastics. Yan’s team has aimed for a sustainable alternative that offers significant environmental and ecological benefits. Yet, the challenge has been developing a stable non-covalent glass that performs effectively under physiological conditions while minimizing the risk of rejection.
Cyclic peptides (CPs), with their distinct connection between amino and carboxyl ends, present diverse biological activities, enhanced stability and increased resistance to enzymatic degradation compared to linear peptides. This makes CPs an intriguing platform for non-covalent glass in biomedical and high-tech applications. However, a strong tendency to crystallize has hindered their potential.
To address this, Yan’s team introduced a high-entropy strategy, incorporating a diverse range of CPs to inhibit crystallization. This involves a melting-quenching process where CPs are heated above their melting points and then rapidly cooled, preserving their disordered state ultimately forming glass. The principles of this method are broadly applicable for creating high-entropy non-covalent glass from other small organic molecules.
The resulting HECP glass excels in crystallization resistance, mechanical properties and enzyme tolerance compared to individual cyclic or linear peptide glasses. These improvements result from the synergistic effect of sluggish diffusion and hyperconnected network architectures within the HECP glass. Additionally, properties can be tailored through compositional adjustments, making HECP glass an excellent candidate for drug delivery systems requiring controlled release.
Moreover, HECP glass has shown potential to incorporate functional moieties, such as dyes and nanoparticles, contributing to the creation of multifunctional, sustainable, non-covalent glasses. This opens exciting possibilities for designing advanced materials in various fields.
“The high-entropy strategy has proven to be an effective method for achieving stable non-covalent glasses, though it is still confined to laboratory settings at this stage,” Yan said in a news release.
Looking forward, further research is needed to unlock the full potential of HECP glass, including the development of glasses with higher thermal stability, incorporation of additional functional groups to enhance optoelectronic properties and exploration of alternative synthesis methods that avoid organic solvents or high temperatures.
This breakthrough indicates a promising future for HECP glass, with the potential to revolutionize several industries, particularly pharmaceuticals, due to its unique properties and sustainable nature.