Supramolecular hydrogels inspired by collagen for tissue engineeringElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Synthesis and characterization of 1-6, emission spectra of solutions of 1-6, and details analysis of Tgs, pHgs, and emissions of all the hydrogels. See DOI: 10.1039/c002609c

Supramolecular hydrogels are promising biomaterials for cell culture in 2-D and 3-D environments. Inspired by the chemical structure of collagen, which bears the repeating tripeptide of glycine-Xaa-4 R -hydroxyproline (GXO; Xaa is any one of the natural amino acids), we designed and synthesized a small library of supramolecular hydrogelators (a total of 6). We found that four of the hydrogels were suitable for NIH 3T3 cell culture in the 2-D environments. Gel 2, the best hydrogel, has properties that are similar to those of collagen for 3T3 cell culture. These findings not only provide more supramolecular hydrogel candidates for tissue engineering, but also offer a new strategy for designing biomaterials that mimic nature. A small library of small molecules inspired by collagen were designed and synthesized, whose possibility for cell culture in 2D environments was studied in detail.