Controlled Polymerization of Amino Acid N-Carboxyanhydrides

本项目旨在开发合成结构明确的多肽的新方法。多肽是一类应用广泛的生物材料。大规模合成高分子量多肽最经济的方法是以胺为引发剂聚合α -氨基酸n -羧基氢化物。虽然用这种方法可以很容易地合成多肽，但所得到的多肽分子量不受控制，分子量分布广，端基定义不清。本项目将研究氨基引发剂的原位硅基化，用于α -氨基酸n -羧基氢化物的可控聚合。利用这笔资金，有机和大分子化学项目支持伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳-香槟分校材料科学与工程系程建军教授的研究。郑教授的研究工作包括开发α -氨基酸n -羧基氢化物的可控聚合引发剂。这样的化学反应将允许控制末端基团以及多肽分子量分布。这种方法的成功发展对制药和生物材料行业都有重大影响。

This project aims at the development of new methods for the synthesis of polypeptides with well defined structures. Polypeptides are a class of biomaterials with numerous applications. The most economical process for synthesizing high molecular-weight polypeptides in large-scale is through the polymerization of alpha-amino acid N-carboxyanhydrides with amines as the initiators. Although polypeptides can be readily synthesized using this process, the resulting polypeptides have uncontrolled molecular weights, broad molecular weight distributions, and poorly defined end groups. This project will study the in situ silylation of amine initiators for the controlled polymerization of alpha-amino acid N-carboxyanhydrides. With this grant, the Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry Program is supporting the research of Professor Jianjun Cheng of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Professor Cheng's research efforts involve the development of initiators for the controlled polymerization of alpha-amino acid N-carboxyanhydrides. Such chemistry will allow control over the end groups as well as the polypeptide molecular weight distribution. Successful development of this methodology has significant impact on both the pharmaceutical and biomaterials industries.