The lyophilized peptides were dissolved at 0.2 mM concentration in Hepes buffer (50 mM) and pH 7.4. The buffered peptide solutions were vortexed until transparent clear solutions were obtained. The solutions were supplemented with concentrated KCl aqueous solution (0.6 M) to final peptide concentrations of 0.2 mM and KCl concentration of 0.3 M. The peptide samples were let to equilibrate at room temperature for two hours and the solutions diluted to the desired concentrations using the same buffer. All peptide solutions and buffers were prepared using deionized water (DIW, 18.2 MΩcm, Barnstead Smart2Pure, Thermo Scientific, MA, USA).