This study involves the bottom-up design and tunability of responsive, peptide-based block copolymers. The self-assembly of amphiphilic block copolymers is dictated primarily by the balance between the hydrophobic core volume and the hydrophilic corona. In these studies, amphiphilic triblock and star copolymers containing poly(lysine) (PK), poly(leucine) (PL) and poly(glutamic acid) (PE) were synthesized and their solution properties studied using dynamic light scattering, circular dichroism spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The peptide block in these structures can serve to introduce pH responsiveness (in the case of PK and PE), or can facilitate the formation of elongated, kinetically-trapped, or fractal structures (in the case of PL.) This talk will present some recent studies in solution morphology transitions that occur in these materials as a result of the helix-coil transition and associated charge-charge interactions. We exploit the responsiveness of these materials to encapsulate and release therapeutics such as doxorubicin and demonstrate the potential to achieve triggered release as a function of pH due to morphology transitions.

Peptide-based star and triblock copolymers: Dynamics of hierarchical assembly and responsiveness

256th National Meeting (2018)

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