Remarkable Morphology Transformation from Fiber to Nanotube of a Histidine Organogel in Presence of a Binuclear Iron(III)–Sulfur Complex

Ferrocene (Fc)–peptide conjugates are an interesting class of compounds that have been explored extensively due to the ability of Fc to act as a scaffold to support peptide secondary structural motifs. Fc–peptide conjugates have also displayed self-assembly and gelation behaviour forming an interesting class of new biomaterials. Here, a Fc–phenylalanine–histidine–OMe conjugate has been synthesized and tested for supramolecular gelation. Interestingly, this compound forms a supramolecular gel in the presence of the binuclear iron–sulfur (Fe–S) cluster and displays interesting properties including redox-responsiveness and morphological changes from fibers to spherical vesicles. The gelation in the presence of the Fe–S cluster has future potential to study prebiotic self-assembly, prebiotic cofactor relationships and biomimetic active sites.