Self-assembling Depsipeptides on Aggregation-Induced Emission Luminogens: A New Way to Create Programmable Nanovesicles and Soft Nanocarriers

Abstract

We introduce the proof of concept of a newmethodology to produce robust hollow nanovesicles stable inwater or mixtures of water and organic solvents. The bottom-upproduced nanovesicles are formed by the self-assembly ofdepsipeptide chains of natural origin combined with newaggregation-induced emission luminogens that function as constitu-tional vesicle-forming moieties and fluorescent indicators of thestructure of the nanovesicle. The newly formed nanovesicles arerobust enough to be used to carry large molecules such asphysiological peptides without losing their structural characteristics,acting as programmable nanocarrier systems within living cells asTrojan horse systems, constituting a new approach to activetransport and nanoencapsulation.