Well-defined branched-chain copolypeptide materials via catalysis

在这个由化学系高分子、超分子和纳米化学项目资助的项目中，加州大学洛杉矶分校的 Timothy Deming 将研究如何在一个反应​​中利用不同类型的引发化学物质和聚合催化剂来生成从圆柱形刷到超支化的支化多肽结构。 该方法是采用不同的引发化学、不同的单体（N-羧酸酐及其硫衍生物）和不同的镍和钴聚合催化剂来控制添加的游离引发剂与束缚在单体侧链上的引发剂的相对引发速率。 以这种方式，可以通过控制每种类型起始位点发生的增长量来制备一系列聚合物结构。 更广泛的影响包括推进加州大学洛杉矶分校跨学科生物工程的教学、培训和学习，以及参与招募代表性不足的少数群体来攻读高级 STEM 学位。这项工作将增强我们对如何轻松制备多肽（具有不同类型分支结构的蛋白质的基本成分）的基本理解。 这些研究的结果可能会对蛋白质材料的应用产生许多重要的长期影响，其中包括药物输送、组织工程和生物技术的其他领域。

In this project funded by the Macromolecular, Supramolecular and Nanochemistry Program of the Chemistry Division, Timothy Deming of the University of California at Los Angeles will study how to utilize different types of initiation chemistries and polymerization catalysts in one reaction to generate branched polypeptide architectures ranging from cylindrical brush to hyperbranched. The approach is to employ different initiation chemistry, different monomers (N-carboxyanhydrides and their sulfur derivatives), and different nickel and cobalt polymerization catalysts to control the relative initiation rates of the added free initiator versus ones that are tethered to the side chain of the monomer. In this manner, a range of polymer architectures can be prepared by controlling the amount of propagation that occurs from each type of initiating site. The broader impacts involve advancing teaching, training and learning in interdisciplinary bioengineering at UCLA as well as participating in recruiting underrepresented minorities to pursue advanced STEM degrees.This work will enhance our fundamental understanding about how to easily prepare polypeptides, the basic component of proteins, which have different types of branched structures. The results of these studies could have many important long term impacts on applications in which protein-based materials are important, including drug delivery, tissue engineering, and other areas of biotechnology.