Peptide-based materials, over the years, have shown its potential and have matured to address varying challenges in various fields such as bioengineering, material science, and pharmaceuticals. Some examples of peptide-based materials include agents used for drug delivery, tissue regeneration, tissue replacement, transducers in biosensors, targeted molecular imaging, data storage, and product identification. There are various methodologies that are currently being used in the preparation of peptide-based materials and one of them is reversible addition-fragmentation transfer (RAFT) polymerization. While there are limited studies involving microwave-assisted RAFT polymerization, this methodology has shown several advantages such as enhanced polymerization rates while maintaining a narrow molecular weight distribution, and compliance with green chemistry principles. In this report, we follow investigative strategies for the preparation of peptide-based polymers which includes 1) synthesis of peptide macromonomers and 2) the optimization of microwave-assisted RAFT polymerization conditions with simple polar monomers such as N-(3-aminopropyl) methacrylamide (APMA) and dimethylaminopropyl methacrylamide (DMAPMA) as model compounds. The synthesis of the macromonomers was accomplished via solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) followed by characterization using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and mass spectroscopy (MS). The polymerization conditions were optimized and characterized by the percent conversion and the degree of polymerization (DP) using 1H Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (1H NMR) spectroscopy. This research will contribute to the expansion of peptide-based biomaterials containing unique chemical structure and properties with potential applications in biomedical field.

Preparation of peptide-based biomaterials via microwave-assisted RAFT polymerization

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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