Tailorable and biocompatible collagen-based peptides as distinctive surfactants with micellar self-assembly.

Surface-active peptides (SAPs) typically mimic conventional surfactants by featuring long non-polar (hydrophobic) peptide tails and short polar (hydrophilic) heads consisting of a single amino acid or short peptide. However, reverse-structure SAPs-with a long hydrophilic tail and short hydrophobic head-remain largely unexplored. If developed, such SAPs could form micelles with a larger hydrophilic area and a smaller hydrophobic core, leading to novel self-assembled structures.