The most economical and efficient process to prepare synthetic polypeptide chains is a one-step polymerization process, the ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of <i>N</i>-carboxyanhydrides monomers. This controlled polymerization process 1) allows the preparation of polymers made of amino acids in both, good yields and large quantities and 2) is an ideal way to create protein mimics structures for materials science applications (as its easy scale up becomes simple). In chemistry, synthetic macromolecules have long been used to reproduce natural protein properties. For instance, polypeptides polymers can reproduce their natural secondary structures including a-helices or b-sheets and this property is highly sought after in polymer science. Compared to synthetic polymers presenting a coil structure, structured polypeptides exhibit intriguing physicochemical properties in bulk, at the surface and/or in solution. An important point of this structuring ability is that polypeptide polymers can undergo secondary structure transitions that can be easily implemented and tuned by tailoring amino acid side chains. In this context, the talk will present how coordination chemistry can be used to prepare smart polymeric systems.

Metal coordination: An efficient structuring switch for polypeptide polymers

2019 Spring National Meeting

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