# Peptide cages: bioinspired supramolecular architectures for next-generation applications

## TL;DR

This review explores how synthetic peptide cages, inspired by natural structures, can be designed for various applications like drug delivery and environmental cleanup.

## Contribution

The paper introduces two design strategies for peptide cages, combining natural and synthetic approaches to create functional materials.

## Key findings

- Peptide cages can be built using peptides as the main structural framework or as functional components in hybrid systems.
- These cages offer tunable properties and are useful for biosensing, drug delivery, and molecular separation.
- They combine biocompatibility with structural predictability for next-generation applications.

## Abstract

This review examines the design and synthesis of peptide-based supramolecular cages, highlighting the versatility and functional diversity achievable by incorporating small peptides as structural components. Inspired by natural supramolecular architectures, synthetic peptide cages offer unique advantages, including tunable chirality, structural predictability, biocompatibility, and ease of functionalisation. The discussion focuses on two principal strategies. The first involves cages in which peptides constitute the primary structural framework, with cage geometry dictated either by intrinsic backbone conformations or by externally imposed directional interactions such as metal coordination. The second covers hybrid systems in which peptides play a functional rather than framework-determining role and are integrated with rigid aromatic or synthetic scaffolds that define the overall architecture. These approaches enable precise control over cage geometry, cavity characteristics, and dynamic behaviour, facilitating applications in biosensing, targeted drug delivery, molecular separation, and environmental remediation. By bridging principles from natural assembly and synthetic supramolecular chemistry, peptide cages represent a powerful platform for developing next-generation functional materials.

This review analyses peptide-based supramolecular cages, their design and applications.