Author:

Abstract:

Peptides are attracting considerable interest in the field of material science and can be view as highly functionalized and bioactive polyamides. The most economical and expedient process for synthesis of long polypeptide chains is the polymerization of α-amino N-carboxy-α-amino acid anhydrides (NCAs). Brush polypeptides can be obtained by this method and high molecular weight polymers can be prepared in both good yield and large quantity [1] [2] [3]. However, this approach is mostly limited to linear homopolypeptides (i.e. polymethionine [4] , polyglutamic acid [5], polyproline) and was never applied to the production of defined peptide sequence polymers. In this context, we developed a new and alternative strategy to generate peptide-based branched polymer. In parallel to our study, we also developed a convenient and straightforward methodology to generate the NCA activated species directly on the solid support. The activated peptide block was then released from the solid support to be engaged in the NCA/Ring Opening Polymerization (ROP) reaction.