Amino acid N-carboxyanhydrides and polypeptides: Controlled polymerization, properties and applications

Lu, Hua

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Description

Title

Amino acid N-carboxyanhydrides and polypeptides: Controlled polymerization, properties and applications

Author(s)

Lu, Hua

Issue Date

2011-05-25T15:02:59Z

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Cheng, Jianjun

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

Cheng, Jianjun

Committee Member(s)

• Braun, Paul V.
• Economy, James
• Moore, Jeffrey S.

Department of Study

Materials Science & Engineerng

Discipline

Materials Science & Engr

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• N-carboxyanhydrides (nca)
• Polypeptides
• Controlled-polymerization
• Helix gene-delivery

Abstract

The goal of my Ph.D. research is to develop controlled/living polymerization techniques of α-amino acid N-carboxyanhydrides (NCAs) and synthetic polypeptides based materials. Polypeptides are a class of emerging biomaterials receiving increasing interests for various applications including drug delivery, gene therapy, antimicrobial and tissue engineering. The ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of NCAs has long been demonstrated as a powerful technique for preparation of high molecular weight (MW) synthetic polypeptides in gram scale. We developed a system utilizing organo-silicon amines, namely hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS) and N-trimethylsilyl (N-TMS) amines, for the controlled ROP of various NCAs. Predicable MWs and narrow molecular weight distributions (MWDs) of homo- and block- polypeptides can be prepared via this methodology. Our mechanism study illustrated that the polymerization involves formation of trimethylsilyl carbamate (TMS-CBM) structure at the propagation center. In addition, the system allows facile end group and side-chain functionalization of the polypeptides and integration of NCA ROP with other polymerization techniques such as ring-opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) to prepare hybrid polypeptides materials. Finally, we discovered a new type of ionic polypeptides with unusual helical stability and demonstrated that they have great potential for gene delivery and siRNA delivery applications.

Graduation Semester

2011-05

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/24190

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2011 Hua Lu

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