Isotopic control over self-assembly in supramolecular gels.

It is common to switch between H2O and D2O when examining peptide-based systems with the assumption being that there are no effects from this change. Here, we describe the effect of changing from H2O to D2O in a number of low molecular weight dipeptide-based gels. Gels are formed by decreasing the pH. In most cases, there is little dif-ference in the structures formed at high pH, but this is not universally true. On lowering the pH, the ki-netics of gelation are affected and, in some cases, the structures underpinning the gel network are dif-ferent. Where there are differences in the self-assembled structures, the resulting gel properties are different. We therefore show isotopic control over gel properties is possible.