Utilising chiral mono- and bis-oxazolines for the synthesis of a new class of stereodefined peptidomimetic polymers

聚（恶唑啉）s （PAOx）在许多工业应用中都很有前景，表现出强度和稳定性的结合，同时也比基于PEG的系统对免疫系统的拮抗作用更小。PAOx具有多肽样结构，可以通过酰胺侧链轻松调节疏水性。PAOx已被应用于生物医学领域，如靶向药物递送、药物配方、组织工程和组织粘合剂。除了生物医学应用之外，它们的可调特性也为表面改性剂、表面活性剂和增容剂以及涂料提供了机会。利用活性阳离子开环聚合（CROP）的稳健方法已经开发出来，可以在一定程度上控制PAOx的结构。尽管最近推动扩大PAOx库，但迄今为止的研究主要集中在简单的非手性2-取代恶唑啉单体上。这些聚合物在主链中不含手性信息，只能通过叔酰胺键具有附加功能。该项目将探索手性恶唑啉单体的聚合，为新一代具有明确战术性的高功能化拟肽聚合物提供途径。在聚合物骨架中加入额外的功能，以及精确的立体控制，提供了指导聚合物采用的二级结构的机会。更广泛地说，在可控的弹性下生成PAOx的能力将使聚合物微观结构和宏观结构之间的关系能够被研究，用于研究这类新兴的工业上重要的聚合物。

Poly(oxazoline)s (PAOx) are promising for many industrial applications, demonstrating a combination of strength and stability whilst also being less antagonistic to the immune system than PEG based systems. PAOx have a polypeptide-like structure, conferring the ability to easily tune the hydrophobicity through the amide side chain. PAOx have been employed in biomedical applications such as targeted drug delivery, drug formulation, tissue engineering and as tissue adhesives. Beyond biomedical applications, their tunable properties present opportunities for use as surface modifiers, surfactants and compatibilisers, and in coatings. Robust methodologies utilizing living cationic ring-opening polymerization (CROP) have been developed to access PAOx with a degree of structural control. Despite the recent drive to expand the library of PAOx, studies so far have focused on simple non-chiral 2-substituted oxazoline monomers. These polymers contain no chiral information in the backbone and can only have appended functionality through the tertiary amide bond. This project will probe the polymerization of chiral oxazoline monomers to provide access to a new generation of highly functionalized peptidomimetic polymers with defined tacticity. The incorporation of additional functionality into the polymer backbone, along with precise stereocontrol, presents the opportunity to direct the secondary structure adopted by the polymer. More broadly, the ability to generate PAOx with controlled tacticity will enable the relationship between polymer microstructure and macrostructure to be investigated for this emerging class of industrially important polymers.