Mimicking the function of DNA: A novel approach for the synthesis of well-defined metallopolymers

天然材料可以具有多种不同的有趣特性。这些特性通常与预定义的蛋白质结构有关。制造(生物合成)这种高度有序分子的基本信息是在DNA中编码的。这个被称为蛋白质生物合成的过程能够以受控的方式合成这些蛋白质以达到一定的目的。这一提议旨在模仿蛋白质生物合成的概念，在制备结构定义的含有配体的聚合物及其相应的金属聚合物中。为此，将制备代表编码信息的含有配体的模板。高选择性和正交性的结合事件将导致预先组织的系统，从而允许制备含配体的低聚物。这些部分随后可以很容易地通过分步生长或链生长聚合技术转移到聚合物中。最后，与不同金属盐的络合将导致金属聚合物的形成，其在所得到的大分子中具有高度的组织性。所获得的聚合物应该进行详细的研究。特别关注的是分子结构以及金属聚合物内部的组织结构。最后，这种分析应该能够阐明结构-性质的关系，并将指导一种新的和先进的金属聚合物的制备方法。

Natural materials can feature a large variety of different interesting properties. Those properties are often associated with a predefined protein structure. The basic information for the fabrication (biosynthesis) of such highly ordered molecules is encoded in the DNA. The process called protein biosynthesis enables the synthesis of these proteins in a controlled manner for a certain purpose.This proposal aims to mimic the concept of the protein biosynthesis in the preparation of structurally defined ligand containing polymers as well as their corresponding metallopolymers. For this purpose, ligand-containing templates will be prepared, which represent the encoded information. A highly selective and orthogonal binding event would result in preorganized systems allowing the preparation of ligand-containing oligomers. Those moieties can later easily be transferred into polymers using either a step-growth or a chain-growth polymerization technique. Finally, the complexation with different metal salts will result in the formation of metallopolymers featuring a high degree of organization within the resulting macromolecule. The obtained polymers should be studied in detail. A particular focus will be the molecular structure and, furthermore, the organization within the metallopolymers. Finally, this analysis should enable to elucidate structural-property relationships and should direct to a new and advanced preparation methods of metallopolymers.