Premium
Tunable, Functional Diblock Copolypeptide Hydrogels Based on Methionine Homologs
Author(s) -
Negri Graciela E.,
Gharakhanian Eric G.,
Deming Timothy J.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
macromolecular bioscience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.924
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1616-5195
pISSN - 1616-5187
DOI - 10.1002/mabi.201900243
Subject(s) - self healing hydrogels , thioether , copolymer , methionine , chemistry , norleucine , polymer chemistry , surface modification , yield (engineering) , materials science , amino acid , organic chemistry , biochemistry , polymer , metallurgy
The preparation of new diblock copolypeptide hydrogels derived from homologs of l ‐methionine, that is, l ‐homomethionine and l ‐6‐(methylthio)‐ l ‐norleucine is described. Compared to l ‐methionine residues, use of l ‐methionine homologs allow improved copolymerization with l ‐leucine residues to give well‐defined block copolypeptides. These copolypeptides are subsequently modified using robust thioether alkylation reactions employing a variety of functional epoxides, which yield samples capable of forming transparent, self‐healing hydrogels in water. The facile variation of different functional epoxides for postpolymerization modification is found to allow predictable functionalization and tuning of hydrogel properties by the modification of simple precursors.