DEVELOPMENT OF METHODS FOR SYNTHESIS OF POLYMERS--GENERATION OF BIOMATERIALS

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The long-range goal remains the synthesis/preparation of a new generation of biomaterials for application in synthetic enzymes, assymetric polymeric reagents, biosensor, tissue engineering and 'responsive' drug delivery systems. As scientists strive to develop a generation of biomaterials for any number of medical/therapeutic biomimetic applications, it is necessary to synthesize macromolecules possessing higher structural orders which may be capable of generating relevant biological properties/functions/specificity. Recently, a synthetic methodology for preparing macromolecules possessing higher structural orders (i.e. secondary or helical) has been developed in our laboratory. This method permits the relative easy synthesis of macromolecules possessing higher structural orders present in biological macromolecules such as proteins e.g. a super-helical (three alpha-helices entwined to form a left handed helical) protein collagen is found in tendons, skins, ligaments etc. In addition to further developing and extending the new synthetic/preparative method for preparing synthetic helical macromolecules, studies to understand the possible application of these polymeric materials with higher structural orders as detectors for the absolute configuration of amino acids will be undertaken. Additionally, macromolecular complexes of the helical synthetic peptides with electronic (containing biocompatible segment) polymers will be prepared as a novel generation of bioartificial materials. The overall goal for preparing such macromolecular complexes is to exploit the application of electroactive polymers at the interface between artificial materials/devices and biological system both in vivo and in vitro. Therefore, the biocompatibility of some of the electronic polymeric materials will be evaluated to set the stage for fabrication into bioartificial materials such as synthetic skins and biomembranes.