Well-defined synthetic amphiphilic polypeptide involving a variety of both of hydrophilic and hydrophobic building blocks can be prepared by employing ring opening polymerization of amino acid N-carboxyanhydrides (NCA). Cooperative hydrogen bonding from the secondary structure, the balance between the hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity, and different non-covalent interactions can be used to induce the self-assembly of the well-defined amphiphilic polypeptides in aqueous solution. Here, we propose poly(?-benzyl-L-glutamate)-b-poly(galactosylated propargylglycine) amphiphilic block copolymers as candidates to prepare glycopeptidic polymersomes with lectine binding galactose presented at the polymersome surface via the combination of NCA polymerization and click chemistry, which might be promisingly applied as nanosized drug carriers for targeted delivery. Moreover, we design a novel PEGylated amphiphilic poly(tyrosine) by using amine-functionalized poly(ethylene glycol) as an initiator for NCA polymerization. The PEGylated poly(tyrosine) can self-assemble into thermostable hydrogels in a range of the concentration in DI water as the temperature increases.

Self-assembly of amphiphilic polypeptides for the formation of polymersomes and hydrogels

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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