Synthesis, Characterization and Processing of Rigid Polypeptides of Unusual Geometry

多肽将被合成为“模糊棒”和“星星棒”。 毛杆有一个刚性的骨干，但许多灵活的侧链。 它们是已知形成液体的最大、最坚硬的材料 晶体在溶液中和加热时。 这个加上一个窄尺寸 分布使它们非常适合建立流动 熔融棒的特性，这是一个目标。 的 多功能侧链化学也可以导致全新的 材料. 例如，液晶的交联将 产生共价的模糊棒网络，导致定向聚合物 气凝胶 一种星星棒，通过将几个模糊的棒连接到一个 中心核在溶液和熔体中都表现出不寻常的结构。 他们不是真的僵硬，但手臂几乎是这样。 更 均匀的手臂分布是研究的主要目标。 星星棒将阐明聚合物溶液的重要特征， 例如接近棒中的半稀释条件。 他们将 也有助于理解熔融棒。 这几乎 完全被忽略的大分子结构也可能有助于 分子级复合材料的生产，非线性光学 材料，双轴取向薄膜，也许还有微型马达， 具有自动温度补偿的材料，或光学 开关.

Polypeptides will be synthesized as "fuzzy rods" and "star rods". Fuzzy rods have a stiff backbone but many flexible sidechains. They are the largest, most rigid materials known to form liquid crystals in solution and upon heating. This plus a narrow size distribution makes them ideally suited to establish the flow characteristics of molten rods, which is one objective. The versatile sidechain chemistry can also lead to completely new materials. For example, crosslinking of the liquid crystals will yield covalent fuzzy rod networks, leading to oriented polymeric aerogels. Star rods made by attaching several fuzzy rods to a central core exhibit unusual structures in both solution and melt. They are not really rigid, but the arms are nearly so. More uniform arm distribution is a major objective of the research. Star rods will elucidate important features of polymer solutions, such as the approach to semidilute conditions in rods. They will also contribute to the understanding of molten rods. This almost completely ignored macromolecular architecture may also facilitate production of molecular level composites, nonlinear optical materials, biaxially oriented films, and perhaps micromotors, materials with automatic temperature compensation, or optical switches.