Example 2
The synthesis of the PEG-peptide-conjugates for use in the hydrogel self-organization were carried out through Michael-addition-reactions between maleimide-terminal four-armed PEG or maleimide-terminal linear PEG and cysteine-terminal peptides from the library. In the case of star-PEG, both components were dissolved in physiological phosphate buffer solution (1×PBS) with a pH value of 7.4 in a molar ratio of 1:4.5 (star-PEG:peptide) with a total concentration of 80 mg/ml. The reaction mixture was quickly covered and stirred at 750 rpm at room temperature for 18 hours (MR Hei-Standard, Heidolph, Schwabach, Deutschland) The raw products were analyzed through reverse-phase high pressure liquid chromatography (UPLC) (UPLC Aquity™ with UV detector, Waters, Milford, Mass., USA) by using C18 column (AQUITY™ UPLC BEH C18, grain size 1.7 μm, 50×2.1 mM, Waters, Milford, Mass., USA) and an isocratic gradient. The raw product was dialyzed with a dialysis membrane with cut-off limit (cut-off) of 8 kD for two days against 10 liters of water under constant water exchange to release unbound peptides and salt. Thereafter, the product was again injected into the UPLC in order to examine the purity as compared to the analysis before the dialysis. The dialyzed product was dry frozen in water into a solid.