Controlled Polymerization of Amino Acid N-Carboxyanhydrides

该项目旨在开发用于合成具有明确结构的多肽的新方法。 多肽是一类具有许多应用的生物材料。 大规模合成高分子量多肽的最经济的方法是通过α-氨基酸N-羧基氰脲酸与胺作为引发剂的聚合。 尽管使用该方法可以容易地合成多肽，但是所得多肽具有不受控制的分子量、宽的分子量分布和不明确的端基。 本计画将研究胺引发剂的原位硅烷化反应，以控制α-胺基酸N-羧基氰酸酯的聚合。 有了这笔赠款，有机和高分子化学计划正在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-羧基氰脲酸的可控聚合引发剂。 这样的化学反应将允许控制端基以及多肽分子量分布。 这种方法的成功开发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.